Challenger!
by Brave Soul RMS
Summary: My name's Grey Thomas from Puel Town. I'm 15 and ran away from home with my battle-happy psycho of a Charmander named Soul & we're on way to becoming legends. Nothing'll stand in our way; not rivals, not gyms, not even the occasional evil Victreebel.
1. Happy Birthday, Grey

Okay, so I've been playing a lot of Platinum and have been waiting for the release of HeartGold/SoulSilver in the Spring. So much so that I've made up a team and a name for the SoulSilver I plan on getting. That and an entire region… So sue me; I have an overactive imagination xD

Meh, but that's not what you're here for. I'm currently suspending all other projects in favor of this one (except Advent Ragnarok) I _**WILL**_ be accepting OC's for this story as Gym Leaders, Characters of the Day, traveling companions (I do need a male fourth for the group I've got planned out) or any other. Send them to me via PM and I'll decide on whether or not to use him/her.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, for the love of Lugia, NO MARY-SUES!!!! That means your character is NOT, under ANY circumstance, allowed to own a Legendary Pokémon. One (1) shiny will be accepted on an OC's team, however.

With that all said an done, I present to you _Challenger!_

**Disclaimer: **I _**DO NOT**_ own the Pokémon franchise in any way shape or form. I do support the official release, as should all fans of the game, and I write this purely for the fun of it and to improve my writing ability. Plus, it's fun :D

* * *

Puel Town, Almia. Seven years ago

* * *

"Dad, where'd we move to again?"

The boy had messy black hair that he absolutely refused to comb, square-framed glasses, and wore black shorts with an orange shirt. His tan skin was in stark contrast to his sister's pale white and his greenish-brown eyes sparked with curiosity.

He had just moved from his hometown in Summerland to live in Almia, yet another region occupied by Pokémon Rangers. The boy never really looked up to the rangers like the flocks of kids at his school did when they brought in a Ranger to teach about fire safety. The others called him strange, but that was alright; he wanted to be a Trainer when he grew up anyway.

Grey had spent hours in front of his TV watching the League Channel and picking up battle techniques here and there. He often imagined himself commanding a Pokémon to use an attack that narrowly saved the duo from defeat and winning the Pokémon League Championships. His favorite trainer and reason for wanting to be a trainer was Green Oak from Pallet Town.

And yet, Grey was being trained as a Pokémon Ranger. He'd already been given classes in the basics - speed, endurance, agility - and his studies in those fields, as well as tactical thinking and regular school subjects would most likely continue. But even at such a young age, Grey Thomas challenged everything put in front of him, including why he had to become a Pokémon Ranger, always asking 'Why not?'

"This is Almia, son. Daddy and mommy got new jobs here, so we had to move," Van said cheerily.

Like his son, Van had black hair and tanned skin, but his eyes were a shocking blue color and burned with determination. Van looked down at Grey, who'd run off to the truck after hearing the name of his new home to play with Van's Arcanine, Ellie.

The man had high hopes for his son to follow in his footsteps as a Pokémon Ranger and, judging by his love of Pokémon, Van judged that wouldn't be too hard. He smiled contentedly, dreaming of a father-son Ranger team which emulated the relationship he had with his father.

* * *

Puel Town, 5 Years Later

* * *

"Happy birthday, Grey!"

The shouts rang out in unison, all aimed towards making the twelve-year-old boy standing on top of a chair in front of a birthday cake happy. At this moment, Grey was immensely, indescribably happy. All of his family and friends were here just for his birthday. It just couldn't get better.

Van had given the boy a necklace with the emblem of Fiore engraved onto it and a pair of goggles the Grey'd begged for since last year because he thought they looked cool. In a way, Van had to admit the boy was right; his son did look more like him with the goggles plastered onto his forehead and a grin upon his face. Although, why he wanted goggles when he already wore glasses was a mystery.

Nurse Joy Thomas and her two Pokémon, Rhea the Chansey and Alastair the Ninetales, had put together a kind of makeshift fireworks display using Rhea's Egg Bomb and Alastair's Fire Blast, Dark Pulse and Energy Ball attacks. The look on her little Grey's face was enough to put Joy in a state of euphoria for days. The leather wrist band with the PokéBall charm helped to bring a smile to the boy's face as well.

Rachel, Grey's older sister, had given Grey a book on the different kinds of Pokémon in the world with detailed information on them. Grey'd told everyone he wanted a Pokédex, but seeing as that was near impossible, the book had sufficed.

Grey's friends from school were also here. Ethan, Maxwell, Amy, and, despite numerous protests, Leena Avery. Grey never did like the girl.

Finally, it was time to cut the cake. Grey grasped the knife in his hands and cut into the cake just as a knock at the door sounded.

"Wonder who that could be," Van wondered. He meant it, too; Van didn't know anyone else was coming. The man answered the door and exclaimed in surprise at the person standing at the threshold.

"Zachary?! You old dog, what are you doing here?" Van laughed. The man that stepped through the door was a mirror image of van, except he possessed a pair of eyes that were identical to his nephews.

"What; a man can't stop by for his nephew's twelfth birthday?" the man rumbled. Slapping his twin on the back. Zachary Thomas entered the room, carrying a cylindrical case in his arms, followed by a Charizard with a pink bow tied around its arm. "Scarlett decided to come around, too. Hope you don't mind, bro." Van laughed in response.

"Nah, I don't. I never get tired of seeing you, old girl," he said, hugging the Flame Pokémon. Scarlett growled kindly and returned the gesture.

"Hello, Zachary," Joy said warmly to her brother-in-law.

"Uncle Zach!" Grey shouted, bounding over to his uncle and throwing his arms around Zach's midriff.

"Grey! How ya been, kiddo?" Zach asked enthusiastically.

"I've been great," the boy answered. He turned and noticed the Charizard standing faithfully by his uncle. "And you brought Scarlett, too." Grey jumped onto the Charizard's back, poking at her wings while the dragon-like beast attempted to pry him off.

"So, did you bring a gift for him?" Joy asked, laughing at her son's antics. "Knowing you, you'll be spoiling him for sure."

"Oh, come on; is that all I am? The uncle that spoils his niece and nephew?" Zach joked in mock hurt. "Haha, you might say that, Joy. I brought him a very special gift."

Zachary looked over at his nephew in pride; a look that was matched by his brother. The case in his hands carried a small, bright orange egg with a flame pattern on it, and Van had a suspicion as to what was inside it after he looked at Scarlett, who had finally gotten Grey off of her back.

"You're giving him that? And there go my plans of giving him a Growlithe," Van sighed. He was only half-serious. Van knew that if he didn't give Grey his first Pokémon, then his brother would step up to the plate in the blink of an eye.

"Beat you to the punch, bro," Zachary joked. "Tell you what; we'll put both our names on it. Giving him his first now _was _your idea, after all." Van nodded and clapped his twin on the back. Turning the Grey, the full-grown twins chorused:

"Grey, Happy Birthday."

The boy turned around and peered at the egg case resting in Zach's arms. Zachary handed the boy the case, which Grey found to be slightly heavy as he stared at it in awe.

"Grey, your mother, your uncle and I decided that it was high time you got your first Pokémon today. I _was _planning on giving you one of Ellie's pups," Van looked over at his brother who sheepishly rubbed his head, "but Zach beat me to it."

"Thanks, dad, Uncle Zach," Grey breathed. "This is the greatest gift ever! But… What's going to hatch from it?" Grey pressed his hands to the glass of the case, feeling a slight warmth radiating off the egg's surface.

"That's for you to find out," Joy smiled. "When that egg hatches, it's going to be your best friend, Grey. I'll help you take care of it, okay?"

"Sounds cool, Mom," Grey grinned toothily. The young boy carefully placed the egg on the table and picked it up out of it's case. Grey could only stare at the egg in his arms and grin widely as he held it. It was an odd feeling, holding the egg. It was radiating with warmth and a little thumping pulse could be felt inside of it…

"It's alive," Grey said. "It's going to be one really cool Pokémon when it hatches." At that moment, thought struck Grey like a hammer blow to the head.

He'd just been given his first Pokémon…

He could become a Trainer now! Pure, undiluted joy ran through the boy's system as he felt like jumping for joy. As soon as that egg hatched, he'd be free to go and become a Trainer.

* * *

Puel Town, Present

* * *

Three years ago, neither Grey or Van could've seen this one coming. Both of them, standing across from each other with the dinner table placed between them and eyes blazing with anger. Sparks practically flew at the other when one spoke.

A furious Grey, nearly red in the face, stared up at his father with a look of indignation practically painted onto him.

"Why? I turned fifteen last month and you promised I could leave home then," Grey said, struggling heavily to keep his voice even under his anger and frustration. Sure; he was mad at Van, but this was his dad here. He couldn't bring himself to yell.

"Because, Grey, Almia doesn't even have a Pokémon League to begin with. We don't even sell PokéBalls, so there's really no reason for you to even -- "

"But, Dad, I could leave Almia and go somewhere else!" Grey argued vehemently. "Johto, Kanto; even Sinnoh since it's the closest place to Almia and Fiore. Just let me go!"

"Char!"

At Grey's feet was a small, orange Lizard Pokémon with a flame burning brightly at the end of its tail. Its face was contorted into the one of anger Grey restrained. He wanted nothing more than to yell at this human along with its trainer, but he knew it wouldn't help one bit. No human bar Grey had been able to understand him.

The Charmander, who Grey named Soul, had been Grey's first ever Pokémon and his best friend. But, despite only being three years old, Soul, like all Pokémon, wanted to travel and see new places, not end up a house pet for his entire life.

Plus, it made Soul restless to just sit around and do nothing. He was an ambitious little lizard who was always itching for a fight, even though he had barely any control over his inner fire! So little, in fact, that even Ember was difficult to execute. Thank heavens for Ellie's teachings, at least.

"Grey, 'no' means 'no' and that's final!" Van shouted. For three years, he and Grey had this same argument countless times and he'd begun to grow tired of his son's constant pleading to go on a journey with Soul.

"And what's so wrong about becoming a Pokémon Ranger like me and your sister?"

"I don't want to do the same thing everybody else in the family's done since forever, Dad. and you know I _hate _Capture Stylers. I mean, what's the point of catching a Pokémon if you don't even get to make friends with it?" Grey countered.

Van sighed, placing his fingers to his wrinkled brow, before turning and walking away.

"Dad!"

"I don't want to hear it, Grey; I just don't. You'll go to the Ranger academy and like it otherwise, you'll just go to regular classes. Good night."

With that said, Van Thomas left his son fuming and the Charmander growling in sympathy with his angry friend.

Grey, now angry beyond all belief, didn't want to hang around the house and get even angrier. To remedy said situation, he stomped out of the house, grabbing his jacket as he did, and made his way to the Puel Town harbor.

He'd go there whenever he just needed to cool off after getting into another argument with his dad over their views on Pokémon.

* * *

An hour later, it was late afternoon and Grey was nearing the Puel Town docks, staring out at the water the entire time with an angry but pensive look on his spectacled face. Grey stood at the edge of one of the docks, Soul ever-faithfully by his side, warily keeping away from the edge of the docks.

The two stared out at the water, stained the color of the golden-orange sun, and watched wild Wingull and Pelipper glide on the ocean winds.

"Soul, what do you think is beyond the sea? What's there to see that isn't here?" Grey muttered angrily. The memory of his father's stubbornness was still fresh in his memory.

Now, Grey had never told anybody, but, ever since he was old enough to remember, he'd been able to understand a fair amount of what a Pokémon was saying to him through small 'ripples', as he called them. He'd discovered this seven years ago, after some event that was now just one big blur to him.

When he heard a voice in his head while feeling a ripple of sudden and inexplicable hunger at the same time, he found out it was coming from his Mom's Ninetales, Alastair. Needless to say, he was freaked out of his mind. Now, he just accepted it as natural.

"Charmander Char,"Soul replied with a lazy yawn. He turned his attention to his tail flame, which was slowly burning the wooden dock, releasing a smoke trail that twisted and turned like a floating, wispy Arbok.

"That exactly why we have to find out!" Grey shouted. "It isn't fair Dad's just keeping us locked up like this! I want to see the world; you do too, right?"

"Char-Char! Charmander char Char!" was the Charmander's passionate reply, an aura of confidence hanging in his voice.

"Char char! Charmander!" _We keep trying until he gives up! _Soul pumped his tiny, clawed fist into the air.

"Then there's no reason why you and I can't go off on an adventure. Meet new people and Pokémon; challenge Gyms; compete in tournaments… Make a name for ourselves." Grey's determination and yearning was nearly palpable, as if his words were soaked in it.

"I want to take the ultimate step and find the courage to be bold. To risk everything out there, fighting my hardest with you to make myself known! What's so wrong about that?"

"Charmander." _Other than the fact that the way you described it was corny, none._

"Another reason… And it was not corny."

"Cha~ar." _Yes, it was._

"…Okay, fine, you win," he conceded to the Charmander. Grey silently flicked his hood up and walked away from the docks to a new destination: the only place that had a video phone that Grey knew of.

The Puel Town Pokémon Centre.

When Grey was in a mood as bad as this, he'd always call the one person who could make him feel better. His dad's brother, Zachary.

---

"So, he said no again, huh, bud?" Zach sighed.

Grey the phone in his ear as he let Soul wander around the Centre. Grey's mom was a Nurse Joy, so, whenever he needed to just hang out, he visited the Centre. It was cool to see all the visiting Trainers with their Pokémon on vacation.

Some where powerful and others, just greenhorns. But every person to come into that Centre was living Grey's dream.

Something he envied them for greatly.

"Yeah… I don't get it, Uncle Zach; why won't he listen to me? Going on a journey is just as dangerous as being a Ranger, and yet he won't let me leave home. It's frustrating!"

"I understand, kiddo. But maybe things'll start looking up sooner or later. Just out of curiosity, where were you going to go when you started your journey?" Zach asked.

"Johto, for sure!" Grey said, immediately cheering up. Talking about his plans for a journey did that to him.

"Start in New Bark town then head on the road to the first Gym in Violet City. But, if I couldn't go to Johto, Kanto would be my second choice."

Zachary laughed heartily at this, a sense of nostalgia flooding his mind like a pleasant fragrance.

"I remember my journey through Kanto…" Zachary smiled. "Scarlett and I have fond memories of there, don't we, girl?" he asked, turning the camera on his end towards the Charizard in Zachary's office. Scarlett roared, flaring her wings as a sense of nostalgia washed over her.

"That's right; Scarlett was your starter Pokémon. Must be cool getting to fly around on her back," Grey said enviously. Grey imagined getting to fly on the back of a Charizard; the wind rushing past him, roaring in his ears as the Flame Pokémon attempted a steep dive and climbed back up again at amazing speeds…

"Oh! That reminds me!" Zachary exclaimed. This rather rudely pulled Grey out of his fantasy and brought to his eyes the image of Zachary digging around in the desk his vid-phone was placed on.

"Your birthday was last month, right? Fourteen years old already," Zach mumbled. "Well, since I regretfully missed it, I decided I'd get you a present or two to make up for it. I think you'll be pleased." Zach said the last half with a mischievous and smug edge in his voice. An edge that bespoke of mischief, even if it was well-intentioned.

"What are you talking about?" Grey asked, fully curious. Soul got up in his Trainer's lap, stretched and yawned, blinked at the vid-phone's camera and began pawing at it in curiosity. These human devices never did make sense to the Charmander. And, furthermore, why wasn't he allowed to chew on them?

"As I recall, your dad and I gave you Soul when you were twelve," Zach said, totally avoiding Grey's question.

"Yeah, but what's that got to do with anything? You knew that already, Uncle Zach," Grey said, even more curious. What was his wily uncle planning now?

"Well, since Van, the hardhead, is do dead-set against you going on a journey, I've taken the liberty of supplying you with a means to go completely against your father's wishes. So…"

It suddenly made sense to Grey.

But there was no way.

Zach couldn't mean what Grey thought he did, could he? If he was, then that meant…!

"Happy Birthday, Grey!" Zachary grinned broadly, holding out a plain blue boat ticket. Grey tilted his head to the side in confusion. He'd been expecting something… better?

"My present's a boat ride?" he asked naively. "I thought you'd be getting me something better."

"Oh, come on! Way to ruin the climax," Zachary muttered. "Yes, it's a boat ride, but not just any boat ride! A once-in-a-life-time chance! I'm offering to take you on your journey!"

Grey's eyes lit up like the fireworks at his twelfth birthday and Soul immediately rushed over.

"Seriously?!" the boy shouted.

"Mander!" Soul said, tripping over his tail as he ran over.

"Of course I am! You already know I own a boat which is how I get to Puel Harbor from Fiore in the first place. And the Pokémon League has established a new branch in the archipelago east of Hoenn, so, I thought 'Why not let Grey go?' Hence, Happy Birthday, you knuckle head," Zachary half-shouted half-laughed. Grey was tempted to start laughing too, but stopped when he saw Zachary's face turn uncharacteristically serious.

"Listen, Grey."

"Uhm… Yeah, Uncle Zach?"

"If you accept my offer, you'll have the choice to leave home without Van's permission and go on your journey."

Grey's heart skipped a full beat and Soul's tail twitched in full attention to Zachary's words. Both Trainer and Pokémon were thinking the same thing:

Was Zach being serious?

"However…" Zachary began again.

"Huh?" Grey mumbled, snapping back into attention

"If you choose to listen to Van and stay home, I won't have anything against you, but you might never get this chance again. What'll it be, Grey?"

For the first time in his fifteen years, Grey was forced to think, and think hard.

Did he really want to leave home? I mean, sure, this'd mean fulfilling his lifelong dream of becoming a Trainer and competing in a League with Gale at his side! But… Everything Grey knew was here…

His friends.

His family.

Alastair and Ellie, the Centre, all those years of fantasizing of being the best Trainer to ever come out of Almia, a place that didn't even train Pokémon to begin with. He wanted the glory; the recognition; even if he failed, he could at least look back and say

"I had the guts to challenge my home and everything it stood for."

…Now that Grey thought about it, all he _really _wanted was the chance.

The more he thought, the more his want to take the chance and his attachment to Puel Town fought, turning his mindscape into a vicious storm of indecision. Soul, sensing his friend's conflict, turned to Grey and offered an encouraging grin.

Grey looked down and a smile spread across his face.

"What do you say, buddy?"

"Char! Charman-der!" the Lizard Pokémon said brashly.

Grey's lips cemented themselves shut until he finally found the courage to give an answer, calming the storm and bringing in the light of confidence.

"Soul thinks I should go for it and he's never been wrong before," he said bravely. His face changed to one of reminiscence as he added,

"Although, there was that one time he decided to piss off the Venusaur tribe living the forest; that was just stupidity."

"Char?! Char char Charmander!" Soul shouted indignantly.

"I was kidding," Grey laughed. The boy turned to the camera once more and said.

Zachary only laughed and began giving Grey the details of this escape to freedom. They would leave early in the morning so as not to arouse suspicion. Grey would pack the essentials and leave a note on his refrigerator explaining what had happened to him. Grey wouldn't want his parents to worry.

After twenty minutes of planning (which was much too short of a time to plan something as big as this), Grey hung up the phone and went home to grab his messenger bag so he could pack it with supplies from the Centre.

"This is it, Soul," he grinned wildly. "Tomorrow, a new region for us to run through. Let's go out there and rip the competition to shreds!" Grey roared into the sky.

"Char!" Soul replied heartily, Grey's aura of confidence riling the Fire-type up. Finally, a chance to prove themselves. And losing was most certainly not an option.

* * *

**So, we have our classic 'run away from home' story here. What's going to happen next with Grey and Soul?**

**Zachary's a kickass uncle. I mean, he lets you directly defy your parents and go out on your own in an area you know absolutely nothing about. How awesome is that?**

**As the story goes on, Grey and Soul's personalities will be shown more in depth. What I will tell you now is that Grey's incredibly headstrong and sarcastic and Soul's a battle-happy little psycho.**

**And the OC submission starts… now. And remember: NO Sues, no Legends and only ONE OC submission will be allowed to own a shiny.**


	2. Set Sail for Silver!

**Okay, first off, (only because of this one review I got) I'll say one thing: If you're going to send me an OC, make sure 2 rules are followed:**

**1. Submissions are sent in the form of a PM (private message) Do not send them in your reviews.**

**2. If for some reason, the PM system doesn't work, you can send the OC via review, but ONLY then. And please don't just send the OC; leave an actual review, too.**

**Thirdly, enjoy :D**

**Disclaimer: **I _**DO NOT**_ own the Pokémon franchise in any way shape or form. I do support the official release, as should all fans of the game, and I write this purely for the fun of it.

* * *

**Chapter Two: **Set Sail for Silver~!

All was quiet the next morning in Almia, although it couldn't really be called 'morning'. The sun hadn't even poked its burning bright face over the horizon yet, so the sky was stuck in the limbo between night and day, painted a calming color in between blue-grey and indigo instead of black or sky blue. The streetlights still gave off their fluorescent white lights to anybody still awake at this time but Grey didn't need it one bit.

The budding Trainer was awake in his house, which was lit by the last pale vestiges of the past night's moon, wide awake, looking for any supplies he'd need for his trip. So far, he'd collected the basic Potions and status-healing items from his mother's supply cabinet as well as several Pecha, Oran, Cheri, Chesto, Rawst and Aspear berries and the five strong-flavor berries from the berry trees Rachel had planted in the backyard. He'd packed all of this, plus two changes of clothes and hygiene items, into a messenger bag he'd gotten from the Ranger Academy. Food items were packed into a satchel he'd scrounged up from the back of his closet. Money he'd earned from chores and past birthdays was placed in a wallet in Grey's back pocket.

"Well, at least they gave me one useful thing," the boy mused to himself, "unlike that useless Ranger Browser. I wonder I put that thing, anyway." Disregarding that thought for the moment, Grey walked over to a mirror to assess his appearance. As a trainer, he needed to look the part as well as be able to battle well.

He was wearing a black shirt with a white stripe across the midriff and navy blue jeans along with his brown leather wristband on his right wrist. His hair was still relatively messy but tame compared to how he usually wore it and the pair of goggles he got three years ago were placed on his head. Black running shoes with blue and white accents adorned his feet and he placed around his neck a gold chain with the emblems of Fiore's and Almia's flag as a charm.

The latter emblem was also used by the Almia Ranger School, so one would think Grey would completely refuse to wear it because it reminded him of his father's stubbornness. Even so, Grey had some good memories of Almia and, even if he denied it, the Ranger School. Some of the things they taught him on how to be a Ranger would be invaluable on this trip.

Plus, it looked too cool to pass up.

"And now the _piece de résistance,_" Grey said excitedly. He quietly tiptoed over to his closet and picked up his most prized item of clothing. A gift from his Uncle Zachary, Grey's jacket was truly something to cherish. It was orange like an Arcanine's fur and even had the characteristic bold, jagged strips decorating it. Cream colored fur lined the hood of the garment and a warm cotton lining was sewn into the inside.

Grey happily donned the garment and zipped it up so it stopped a bit below his collarbone. He looked at his right wrist and saw that the jacket covered his wristband. He toyed with the idea of rolling up the sleeves, but thought against doing that unless the climate called for it. Even if it wasn't seen, the wristband was still there and that's all that mattered.

So, with that, Grey picked up his packed messenger bag and slung it over his shoulder before walking to his bedside table and retrieving Soul's Pokéball. Pocketing the device, he proceeded downstairs, stuck his goodbye note to the refrigerator door with a magnet, and opened the sliding door that lead to the backyard, hopping the fence and making his way towards Puel Town's harbor. With one last defiant and manic grin over his shoulder, Grey bid his final goodbye to his home.

"So long, Puel Town. When you see me next, I'll be the strongest challenger to ever come from here." With that comforting thought, Grey adjusted the strap on his bag and began walking.

* * *

Grey had spent a good two hours on his walk to the harbor and the sun was just now beginning to rise, so he'd place the time at well around 7:30 AM. He smiled at the first advent of morning's light caressed his face, leaving him with a warm sensation that rapidly spread through him like wildfire.

The harbor was now visible and by the looks of things, very much active. Trainers who were ending their Almian vacation mingled by the docks as the sailors and dockhands worked on loading cargo ships. In total, there were six ships in port today, all billing white smoke out of their smokestacks as they waited for the signal to depart.

The most interesting sight to Grey was the multitude of Pokémon that hung near their trainers or socialized with another's. There had to be at least fifty there and all of them different sizes, shapes and types. A Manectric, two Ledian, a trio of Dugtrio and even the occasional bigger Pokémon, such as Torterra or Nidoking. Various Water-types frolicked in the harbor and Grey even spotted a Lapras and a Tentacruel among the multitude of Poliwag and Goldeen. A Wailmer breeched out of the water with a bellowing cry of

"Waaaaaail….!" before splashing back down, creating a geyser that displaced a group of Poliwag unlucky enough to be near it. Grey watched in a mixture of awe and joy at the massive blue Ball Whale Pokémon and considered a moment about catching one. Like with the Ranger Browser, he pushed that thought into the back of his head for later.

As he made his way up the cobblestone path towards the ships, his feet rhythmically click-clocking with each step, Grey started looking for the one that belonged to his uncle. Having not found it in the lineup of ships, Grey took his bag off his shoulder and began to think.

The Silver Ring Archipelago was, before this, a little known island, but one hell of a vacation spot. It was a beautiful string of nine tropical, semi-tropical and fairly maritime islands home to many kinds of Pokémon, be they natives to the islands or imported to help the archipelago's ecosystem. It was pretty much Grey's ideal place to go. Best of all, the Pokémon League had seen it fit to establish an official Gym Challenge while they were helping the islands at the same time. Zachary had been right; this was indeed an incredible opportunity too great to pass up.

Grey dug into his jacket pocket and pulled out Soul's Pokéball, enlarging it and releasing the Charmander inside in a burst of silver light.

"Chaaa~" Soul yawned sleepily, stretching his short limbs out and attempting to stoke the fire on his tail. Soul turned to Grey with an inquisitive look on his face.

"Char char?"

"Yeah, it's early; I know. But uncle Zach's coming here to pick us up any minute now. All we have to do is wait," Grey assured his Charmander.

"Char cha~r," Soul replied, waving his hand with a bored tone. _Bo~ring._

"Well, what do you expect me to do? It's not like we have any interesting ways to kill time."

"Hey, you!"

Grey turned around to see the speaker: a boy who wore a yellow t-shirt, blue shorts and a backwards cap of the same color. He held a Pokéball in his left hand while the other pointed at Grey defiantly.

"I challenge you to a battle!" the Youngster exclaimed. "My name's Jimmy!" Grey rose to his feet with a wild grin plastered on his face, a look that Soul was quick to emulate. Thank you, irony.

"You are a trainer, right?" Jimmy inquired.

"Well, let's see; I have a supply bag, I have a Pokéball in my left pocket and a Charmander following me around. What do you think, Jimmy boy?" Grey replied sarcastically. The younger boy's face contorted into a grimace.

"I was just asking," the boy said angrily. "You don't have to be so mean about it."

"Didn't you know?" Grey asked. "Trash-talk is one of the basics of being a Trainer. It helps you psyche out the competition." Jimmy's face turned into a curious one.

"Really? I didn't know that. Thanks, mister," he smiled. Grey snickered a bit.

"It's no problem, kid. Now, you want that battle? Soul an I are ready to go!" he exclaimed. It was Jimmy's turn to smile as he tossed his Pokéball into the air before it exploded open, letting a silver light rain down. The light twisted and morphed until it finally burst away, revealing a small mammalian Pokémon with altering brown and cream colors in it's shaggy fur. It had a black 'mask' in front of its large, round eyes and refused to stay still, always looking in a new direction every two seconds.

"Zig! Zigzagoon!" it barked.

"Charmander!" Soul shouted. _This one's mine!_ A grin spread across Soul's face as he flexed his claws in anticipation of battle. The flame on his tale flared and his cyan blue eyes glinted manically.

"Of course I'm putting you in this fight, Soul. You're the only one I have with me at the moment," Grey joked.

"So, we'll set the bet at fifty dollars. That okay with you?" Jimmy asked as he took a battle stance.

"Just fine," Grey muttered, narrowing his eyes.

"Fine, then I'll start things!" Jimmy cried. "Zigzagoon, get in there for a Headbutt!"

Zigzagoon was eager to please, tucking in its legs and head and scampering across the ground in a zigzag line to try and confuse its Charmander opponent. Grey didn't have much time to act, so he uttered the first attack that came to his mind.

"Soul, Scratch attack!"

Just as Zigzagoon was about to ram his head into the scaled belly of the Charmander, Soul lashed out with his tiny claws, raking them straight across Zigzagoon's head. The two moves collided, causing damage to both parties, but Zigzagoon was first to get up.

"Tackle attack, Zigzagoon!" the young boy commanded, slashing his hand through the air. Again, the Tiny Raccoon Pokémon scampered forward in a zigzag, crying its name as it did so.

Grey ran a hand through his messy head and growled. This was tougher than it looked and this kid was about five years younger than he was. Through the surge of adrenaline, Grey realized he'd have a lot of work to do but, for now, it was time to concentrate on the battle.

"Soul, trip him up!" he roared. Soul, from his position on the ground, turned his head towards his charging opponent and stuck his tail out just as Zigzagoon was about to connect. The Tiny Raccoon tripped over the orange, flame-tipped appendage and fell flat on its face, eliciting a howl of pain. Grey grinned madly and saw his chance.

"Now, Ember!"

"Chaaa~r!" Soul screamed. The flame at the tip of his tail flared up, making the air around it shimmer as it powered the glowing embers that appeared in Soul's mouth. Rearing his head back, the Charmander spat the Ember attack forward into the brown-and-cream fur of Zigzagoon.

Zigzagoon cried out in pain as the red-hot flames pelted him and turned some of his fur charcoal black while setting other parts ablaze. It rolled around on the dock in an attempt to put the flames out, succeeding, but left with smoking patches that stung when it moved.

"Zigzagoon, are you alright?" Jimmy cried, worried for his Pokémon.

"Zagoon! Zig zag!" the little one barked, scrunching his face up in anger at Soul. The cocky Charmander stuck his paw out and beckoned the Zigzagoon to come at him in the 'bring it on' gesture.

"We have him now, Soul! Another Ember!" Grey shouted, pumping his fist in early victory. Soul obliged, attempting to repeat the attack, but all that came out was a small plume of smoke.

"Char?!"

"What?!" Grey said, his face falling in pure disbelief.

"Oh, that's right," he realized with dread, "Soul still can't control his fire that well…" Sensing an opening, Zigzagoon dashed forward, ramming his head into Soul's stomach once more.

The Charmander flew into the air and landed on his back, a grunt escaping his maw. Soul pushed himself up, shaking off the Headbutt attack's impact and turning to his Trainer as if asking 'What now?'

By now, a small crowd of people - Trainers and civilians alike - had gathered to watch the battle, offering their support to either Charmander or Zigzagoon. The adrenaline pumping through both Grey and Soul made them partly oblivious to the cheers of the small gathering.

"We have to stall for time, Soul. Use a Growl," Grey said.

Soul opened his mouth and did his best attempt at an intimidating growl, which lowered the potency of Zigzagoon's attacks.

"Now Smokescreen for cover!" Next, Soul belched out a thick cloud of smoke which obscured the battle from view for Zigzagoon. Soul hacked and coughed afterwards, always hating having to use Smokescreen.

"That's okay, Zigzagoon; use Odor Sleuth!" Jimmy commanded. Grey groaned loudly now that his cover was now useless. "Now Headbutt him again!"

"Zaaaaaa goon!!" the Tiny Raccoon cried, bursting out from the smoke to once again smash his skull into Soul.

"Dodge and Scratch!" Grey marshaled. Soul threw himself to the side, dodging the painful head butt attack before running up to Zigzagoon and repeatedly scratching it with his tiny claws.

"We got him now! Finish him with Ember attack!"

"Chaaa~!" Soul cried, flaring his tail-flame up in preparation. "Mander!" The Lizard Pokémon flung the weak ball of fire out of his mouth as hard as he could, watching as it struck Zigzagoon in the back with a small explosion of smoke.

Soul and Grey watched in anticipation, the blood pounding in their ears and the adrenaline making sure they were ready for a counterattack… But they wouldn't need to; Zigzagoon was down! The crowd around the two trainers broke out into applause for Grey and his battle-happy Charmander.

The Tiny Raccoon Pokémon had fainted, its eyes squeezed shut and a large black patch on its back from where the Ember struck.

"Yes!" Grey shouted victoriously, punching the air wildly as Soul danced on the spot. Grey rushed over to pick up his Charmander and place him on his shoulder so they could congratulate one another.

"You really did well out there, Soul. But we'll have to work on your Ember, alright?" Grey laughed.

"Char char? Charmander!" _Who cares? I rock!_ was what Grey heard through the powerful ripples of joy coming off his Charmander.

"That you do, buddy," Grey said confidently.

The crowd of people dispersed, allowing Grey and Jimmy heal the injuries their Pokémon had sustained during battle and for Jimmy to pay Grey the fifty dollars he'd earned.

"That was a great battle, mister," Jimmy said, holding Zigzagoon in his arms.

"Zigzagoon!" the Normal-type agreed.

"Same to you. If that third Ember hadn't worked, you probably would've won," Grey conceded.

"Really?!" Jimmy asked, hope sparkling in his eyes.

"Tch! No; there's no way Soul and I would've lost! But, still, it was a good fight. Keep training and maybe we'll see each other again." Jimmy's face fell a bit, but he was still happy for the compliment.

"Thank you. I guess I'll see you later the--"

"GREY!!!!" a voice rang out, anger permeating every layer of it like a poison. Grey's head snapped up and he rounded on his heel, nearly displacing Soul, and his eyes widened in a mixture of shock and fear.

Rachel was stomping towards him, rage etched clearly on her face for all to see. She came to a stop in front of Grey, her eyes smoldering. Jimmy the Youngster had already ran away in fear.

"What the hell do you think you're doing here?" Rachel growled.

As angry as she was now, Rachel eighteen years old was very pretty. She'd inherited her mother's pink hair and her dad's eyes, and was dressed in a standard Ranger's uniform. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, there was a Capture Styler at her side and a Vulpix trailing behind her. Because of her frequent exercise as a Ranger, Rachel was very fit and trim. Her pale face, which bore a string of freckles across the bridge of her nose, was a mere inch from her younger brother's.

"Oh, hey, sis. What're you doing here?" Grey asked fearfully. Rachel growled, and Grey realized just how intimidating she could be when angered. The fact that she towered over him by three inches really didn't help his situation either.

"That's what I just asked you! Do you know how angry I am?!" she screeched.

"Well, between the screaming, stomping and overall pissed off look on your face, I really couldn't tell," Grey said. Even know, he spoke the language of sarcasm.

"This isn't funny, smart-ass! You're so lucky I lied for you to dad and mom or else you'd be six feet under by now! What the hell are you thinking!?"

"Let's see: I'm down at the shipyard with a bunch of other Trainers, Uncle Zach's coming here to drop me off in the Silver Ring any minute now... Hmm, whatever could I be planning?"

Rachel could only open and close her mouth, unable to form a coherent comeback to the sheer audacity Grey had shown her. To make things worse, his arrogant little Charmander was laughing his head off while trying to stay perched on Grey's shoulder. The little…

"I… you… The… Shut your Charmander up!"

"Oh, come on. He's just having fun. And how do you know he's laughing at you?" Grey countered with a laugh of his own.

"You're coming home right now," Rachel growled. Her hand snapped forward like a Seviper and clamped itself around Grey's wrist so she could bring him back home. Grey looked from her hand's death grip around his wrist to his sister's rage-filled face and sighed in regret.

"You know, I didn't want to do this, but, in a way, I do," he said vaguely.

"What the hell are you -- " Rachel began.

"Soul, use Ember!"

Soul nodded and hopped off Grey's shoulder, opening his mouth to release and Ember, but only got a ball of smoke as a result. Soul stared at the rising plume of smoke for all of three seconds before hanging his head in disbelief.

"Ooh, didn't see that one coming," Grey muttered. Rachel growled again, tugging Grey's arm and attempting to drag him forward.

"Quit fooling around and let's go, idiot!" she barked. She tugged again and Grey resisted, staring at his sister with a fire in his eyes that wasn't there before. His eyes turned to a greenish-brown steel as they bored into his sister's skull angrily.

"No," was his simple reply. Soul trotted over to his Trainer's side to offer support.

"I'm not going back home. I don't want to be a Ranger and I've told you that a thousand times. You can go back home, but I won't," Grey said in a low voice that said he was serious.

"Char, Charmander!" Soul shouted. _So back off! _Rachel looked from her brother's defiant, steely face to Soul's angry one, refusing to give up. Her parents had told Rachel to bring Grey back so that he could be punished for running away from home and she always followed orders.

"Grey, quit being silly. You'd never be able to make it as a trainer anyway. You're meant to be a Pokémon Ranger, now get rid of your stupid pipe dream and --"

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do!" Grey roared. His sudden angry outburst startled some of the people on the dock, who either ignored it or began to talk about it among themselves. It scared Rachel too, who finally released Grey's hand and looked at him like he was crazy.

"What?" she asked dumbly, still in shock.

"I said, don't you tell me what I can and can't do. That's for me to decide, not you. If I want to be a trainer, I'll do it and nobody'll stop me. Not you, dad or anyone else. So just go home, Rachel," Grey said angrily.

"Vul vul?" _What's wrong? _Vulpix asked Soul.

"Charmander. Char char char!" _We're going,_ Soul said simply. _We're going to battle and get stronger! _Vulpix's face fell. That didn't answer her question at all.

Just then, the whirring of plane rotors came into earshot. Grey looked out over the harbor to see a seaplane against the backdrop of the fully risen sun getting ready to land on the other end of the docks. Knowing it belonged to his uncle, Grey picked up his bag, slung it over his shoulder and returned Soul to his Pokéball in a flash of crimson light.

"Grey!" Rachel shouted. Grey didn't turn back to face her, so Rachel couldn't see the smile that spread across his face like the sunlight that finally came.

"Sorry, sis," he said, "but my ride's here. Later!" Grey took off in a run towards the seaplane, determined to get on it and into the air before Rachel caught up to him.

"Damn it, Grey!" Rachel shouted, running after him.

Grey turned to the right, skidding into the space between two of the warehouses right behind the docks and kept running, legs pumping at a furious pace. He thanked his parents and the Almia Ranger School for training him in things such as running and jumping, otherwise he wouldn't stand a chance running from Rachel.

He vaulted over a trashcan, feeling the adrenaline pump through him, pushing him further. Grey almost crashed into a woman and her child, who he quickly identified as Jimmy, twisting his body so that he narrowly avoided collision.

"Sorry, ma'am! See you someday, Jimmy boy!" Grey shouted, laughing the whole time through though he didn't know why. Maybe it was the rush or maybe it was the thought of finally becoming a trainer, but either way, Grey was suddenly happy.

Nearing the end of his sprint, he could hear Rachel's shouting getting nearer as well as the image of the seaplane and his uncle standing before it getting closer. He put on one last burst of speed, rushing past Zachary and jumping into the plane, hurriedly buckling himself up.

"Start the plane, man! Let's go!" Grey panted. The boy looked over his shoulder to see if Rachel was getting any nearer. She was, and this only served to make him even more energized.

"Quick!"

"How come you're so excited? I mean, this is a big thing, but you don't --" Zachary started.

"Uncle Zach, all I can say is Rachel's coming and if we don't take off now, she'll catch up to us and we'll both be busted. So start the plane!" Grey urged.

After that explanation, Zachary didn't need a repeat. He gunned it, slamming down on the acceleration while flipping various switches and buttons in preparation for take-off. Finally, the propellers on the wings of the seaplane began to spin and push the metal contraption forward. Grey looked out the window towards the docks and was pleased to see they were leaving it behind at a very fast rate. Grey sank back into his chair with a sigh of content and relief.

"Finally," Grey breathed. "Thanks again, Uncle Zach."

"No problem, " the man said, giving Grey a thumbs up over his shoulder. "On a side note, do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Grey asked. He didn't notice before, but now Grey heard a thumping sound on the outside of the plane. Looking out of the window once more, he saw two things:

One was that the plane was finally beginning to rise off the water and two was that Rachel was hanging onto the landing gear with a very wet Vulpix clinging for dear life.

"Help me!" came her muffled scream.

"Aren't we going to help her?" Zachary asked, also noticing the clinging girl.

"Fine," Grey sighed. He opened the door just as the plane left the water and helped his sister into the seat next to his.

"You little punk!" she shouted. "I could've been killed out there!"

"And?"

"And? What the hell do you mean and?" Rachel loosened her grip a bit.

"I don't see your point. You could've been killed and… How's that a bad thing?" Rachel's mouth fell open and Andromeda loosed some angry embers.

"You little -- !"

"I'm kidding! Sheesh, take a joke, woman," Grey said, dusting himself off. "Now, exactly what do you want?" Rachel let out a low, feral growl and resisted the urge to throttle Grey.

"I said, you're coming him with me, so move it!" she said authoritatively.

"Don't think so," Grey grinned wildly, making Rachel a bit uncomfortable. He'd never smiled like that around her before and, little did she know, she'd be seeing a lot more of it.

"And why not?"

"We're on a plane, genius. Unless Soul spontaneously evolves into a Charizard and decides to listen to you, you're stuck with me," Grey stated, pointing downward. Rachel looked out of the window to see the plane was flying away from Almia, and at an alarming pace. Looking around, she also saw Zachary piloting the flying vessel. She was stuck here… With Grey.

"So, looks like you're stuck with me on this, sis. What do you say; traveling companions?" Grey offered his hand in false goodwill; the deviously evil grin on his face made _sure _that message got across. Rachel groaned and threw herself over the railing as Vulpix's face slowly changed from auburn to green with seasickness. Grey laughed loudly before producing Soul's Pokéball - much to the astonishment of Rachel - and calling out,

"Come on out." The energetic Charmander appeared in a burst of white light..

"Pokéballs, Grey?!" she screeched incredulously. "You KNOW you aren't allowed to own Pokéballs in Almia!"

"The ball came when Soul hatched, remember?" Grey deadpanned. "And didn't you notice it before?" Grey laughed.

"You should really think of getting one for Vulpix; Soul doesn't seem to mind being in his for a rest."

"Like I'd use an illegal contraband!" Rachel shouted back.

"Not illegal where we're going," Grey said, faking wisdom just to push his sister even more. It worked and Rachel fumed audibly and ground her teeth to stave off her anger. "Cheer up, Rae! This is going to be fun!"

"Yeah, just one thing, genius," Rachel said snidely.

"What's that?"

"You don't know where we're going," Rachel pointed out smugly.

"The Silver Ring Archipelago," Zachary said suddenly. "That's where I'm dropping Grey off. It's a chain of islands southeast of the Hoenn Region and a really beautiful place." Rachel ground her teeth and groaned audibly. This was going to be a long, long trip.

* * *

**Second chapter posted! Alright; now we're going someplace. Grey's all fired up and Rae's about three minutes away from throwing him overboard and waiting for the Sharpedo to show up. Ahh, sibling love.**

**Post-Chapter notes:**

**- Soul's a loveable, cocky little Charmander, isn't he? We'll be seeing a lot more of him, so don't worry about that. **

**-What other kinds of Pokémon will Grey catch throughout his journey into the Silver Ring Archipelago? Just wait and see, my friends.**

**-We meet a new character next chapter! Ooh, mysterious!!! O.o**

**-Lastly, Grey will catch a Pokémon later into his journey who will teach him to better use his powers of Poké-empathy, his ability to understand Pokémon. Which Pokémon do you think it is? Guess right and you get a surprise.**


	3. The Start of a Long Campaign

Okay, firstly, I'd like to thank Shadow Minamoto for his review and submission. I see use of his OC in the near future. Thanks again :D

Secondly, to Farla, I appreciate the criticism, but it's my choice to ask for OC submissions and it's also my choice to write the way I write. If you have a problem with it, just don't read it if you think that way. I'll write with the OC characters I choose to accept to the best of my ability; that's what writing's about.

This ends my rant. Enjoy, people :D

**Disclaimer: **I _**DO NOT**_ own the Pokémon franchise in any way shape or form. I do support the official release, as should all fans of the game, and I write this purely for the fun of it and to improve my writing ability.

* * *

**Charpter Three: **The Start of a Long Campaign

Grey bounded off the gangplank onto the port town of Seabreeze Village, taking in everything in sight. Seabreeze was a calm place with a lazy atmosphere soaked in sea air. To the left was a wide expanse of white, sandy beach with multiple trainers and their Pokémon lounging, playing, and, in one instance, a Golduck surfing a wave created by a Tentacruel.

Besides the beautiful beach, there was an urban area; a small city could be seen several miles past the cabins and houses, which were predominately white and sky blue. Finally, to either side and the back of the Village, there was a palm tree jungle, sure to be teeming with Pokémon.

Grey stretched happily and adjusted the strap of his messenger bag, silently laughing at his sister as she tripped off the gangplank and fell face first into the sand.

"Good luck, Grey. I'll be watching during the conference!" Zachary said, bidding his nephew goodbye.

"Thanks Uncle Zach! And thanks for flying us here!" Grey shouted back over the noise of the propellers. He watched as the seaplane flew off into the sky again before turning to his sister, who was picking sand out of her hair.

"Beautiful, huh, sis? Nothing like Puel Village; the sun's shining and it's a great day to wear shorts!" he commented whilst hiding his laughter. And he'd been right in his comment. Being so close to Fiore, which was so close to Sinnoh, Almia had been a slightly chilly region, and anybody who knew Grey knew he hated the cold with a passion.

"I hate the heat," Rachel muttered bitterly. She got back up and dusted her clothes off as Vulpix padded behind her loyally, unaffected by the heat she so hated.

"So, genius," she continued scathingly, obviously still angry at Grey for getting her tangled up in his runaway, "what are you going to do now? You can't leave Village without any provisions, can you?" Grey flashed her a smile.

"I didn't leave home without any money, sis. I have three-thousand in cash from… a friend, and some money I saved up from birthdays and chores. A good trainer's always prepared." Grey produced said money from a wallet in his back pocket before replacing it.

"Where'd you get…?" Rachel began before deciding it was best not to ask. "So, you have money. Got a plan? I don't think this region has any gyms, you know." The pinkette was determined to derail her brother's plans as best she could.

"This place is under a combined Kanto/Johto League jurisdiction. Of course it has a Gym Challenge. Any other obstacles you want to throw my way or are you done?" Grey smirked. Rachel growled under her breath while Vulpix did her best to calm her fuming partner.

"Well, first things first: registration. Seabreeze Village has a woman named Professor Hawthorne who registers new trainers. I should stop there first," Grey explained offhandedly.

"How do you know these things? I thought all you did when you watched the Pokémon Channel was watch the battles!" Rachel spat. Grey's patience was beginning to wear thin. What was this; Twenty Questions?

With a raised eyebrow, Grey looked at his sister with a glint of frustration in his eyes. What had her so mad? If she wanted to leave, she could've just gotten on the plane back to Almia; she didn't have to stick around and baby him.

"If you want to go home, then just go. I planned to do this with just the Pokémon I catch, anyway," Grey said darkly. Rachel let out a small gasp at what her brother had just said to her. Did he really mean that? To be fair, she _was _intruding on his venture so, naturally, Grey had a right to be a bit mad but Rachel never would've expected him to say anything like that.

"You have a choice, you know," Grey stated, bringing Rachel out of her mire of thought. "You can go home and get mom and dad to come get me or you can come with, provided you keep your mouth shut."

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do!" Rachel snapped, instantly regretting it as Grey stiffly picked up his back and slung it over his shoulder.

"Well, fine then. I'm going to Professor Hawthorne's lab. You coming or what?!" Grey barked harshly.

Rachel said nothing, instead opting to pick up Vulpix and follow in shocked silence.

"Right, well… Great." The silence between the two siblings was a bit awkward and uncomfortable but, most of all, foreign. They'd never disagreed this badly before.

"Well…" Rachel began tentatively. "I guess I'm stuck with you one way or another. So, lead the way."

And so he did. Grey and his sister walked off the docks and into Seabreeze Village, the tension between them thick. Despite that, the two managed to quietly enjoy the sights the village had to offer.

On their way to Hawthorne's lab, there were many merchants peddling fruit from the jungle, clothes and souvenirs for tourists. They were also very aware of the abundance of Water and Grass-Type Pokémon that either wandered peacefully through Village as wild ones or followed their trainers loyally if caught.

Grey noted with a slight laugh at the sight of a truly massive Venusaur sunbathing in front of one of the houses with one of its leaves acting as a visor. The memory of himself and Soul running for their lives from a Venusaur not unlike this one after accidentally burning a baby Bulbasaur made a bubble of blissful reminiscence well up in his chest.

"What are you laughing about?" Rachel asked in an attempt to break the silence. In her arms, Vulpix mewled at a few Caterpie passing by her owner's legs.

"Just an old memory involving a Venusaur tribe back home…" the boy laughed. "And I thought you were mad at me?" he added afterwards. Rachel snapped her head to the side in a show of anger. She'd just been trying to be nice was all. She sighed loudly.

"This is going to be a long, long trip, isn't it?" she moaned. Vulpix licked her face and mewled sadly as well.

* * *

"Ehhh… Strange… what would a Torterra be doing out here, of all places?" the woman's voice was rich with knowledge, but it was by no means the voice of an old woman.

She was in her mid teens with bright, curly red hair that glowed like burning spirals. Her eyes were a curious steel gray color but not without kindness. She was a bit on the short side, standing at five-foot-six-inches, and had a fraction of baby fat still on her. Under her standard lab coat was a black shoulder-less shirt and blue capris. Flats adorned her feet and her face was devoid of make-up. But she could really care less. With skin a shade between tanned and pale white, Juniper Hawthorne didn't think she needed make-up to look good.

Currently, the girl was situated in the fleshy leaves of a palm tree, binoculars around her neck and a clip board in hand. She was studying the habits of a wild Torterra with avid interest. It was common knowledge that the Grass and Ground Continent Pokémon was native to the chilly forests of Sinnoh, constantly on the move in search of a source of water. However, whatever it was doing on a tropical island - much less how the gentle giant got there - was a mystery.

But, that's what Hawthorne did as a Professor…in training. She studied the habits of Pokémon in their natural habitats and frequently did field work such as this.

"Well, my friend, it looks like the heat of the island doesn't affect you too adversely," Juniper commented. She chuckled and continued, "Any trainer lucky enough to capture a heat-resistant Torterra would make the others jealous indeed. Wouldn't you say, Rosewood?"

"Fur-furret!" the Furret squeaked from around her owner's neck. Juniper laughed softly and scratched the Long Body Pokémon around her ears, eliciting a squeal of happiness from her friend.

She peered at the Torterra through her binoculars as it sat at the edge of a small lake, lapping up water while several Taillow perched on the tree on its back, plucking away at the nuts growing on its back. Being the Pokémon it was, Torterra didn't mind one bit. What was unusual about this Torterra was the fact that the greens on its body were much lighter than one that would've grown up in Sinnoh and the earthy browns on its shell were darker and rich. She noted this on her clipboard with a fascinated smile.

This is why she loved her job.

Suddenly, as she got up to descend the tree, she lost her footing, tumbling down with a surprised shout right smack in Torterra's tree. She popped her head out from the foliage, spitting out the few leaves in her mouth and shaking the ones in her hair loose while scaring the Taillow away at the same time. Rosewood fell onto the Torterra's head soon after.

Did we forget to mention the good Professor was, as one might say, accident prone? This quality was to blame for many of the chain reaction messes started in the laboratory but it was also what gave Juniper her eccentric charm.

"Oh, my!" she exclaimed, plucking a leaf off of her head.

"Ret?" Rosewood piped up, scurrying up the Torterra's body up to its tree.

"These leaves…" she paused, staring at the leaf like it was the answer to all of life's mysteries. "They're so SOFT!"

Despite having ridiculously small limbs, Rosewood smacked her paw into her face in exasperation. Sometimes, her owner was a bit air-headed.

"You could stuff a mattress with these and sleep better than if it was filled with Pidgeot feathers! Maybe there's something in the berries and water on the island!" she speculated wildly. "Or maybe it's the much warmer temperatures in contrast to the cold of Sinnoh?! This has got to be a great discovery on how regional climate and geography affect the growth and development of -- "

"Terra… Tor!" the behemoth growled. Not that it had minded, but random humans falling into his tree wasn't exactly what he'd call normal. But, then again, Torterra was a seven-hundred pound plant-animal, so he really couldn't talk.

"Oh! I'm sorry, Torterra," Juniper said embarrassedly. Torterra gave a noncommittal grunt and returned to lapping up his water. "At any rate, would you mind coming back with me to my lab to study you? I promise you can return home after I finish~" the Professor pleaded in a childish giggle.

Torterra replied by heaving its huge bulk away from the water and towards Seabreeze Village. What was the harm in humoring this one for a while? He led a pretty uneventful life as it was.

"Thank you, Torterra! I promise I'll be quick," Juniper sang happily.

"Terra…" _I always did get the crazy tennants…_

"Fur, Furret." _Tell me about it._

_----_

"Lab of Professor Amelia Hawthorne: Pokémon Habitat Study conducted here," Grey read off the sign in front of the relatively large building.

Instead of being in the city area, Professor Hawthorne's lab was situated on the far east side of Seabreeze Village. It was a large building, painted sky blue and white like most of the Village, and possessed a fairly large open space behind it with three visible ponds and a windmill that stretched into part of the jungle before a fence closed the area off. Grey and Rachel could see various forms of Pokémon inhabiting the area as well.

"Seems like a nice place to work," Rachel noted.

"Yeah, it does. But we aren't here for a job application, are we?" Grey pointed out with an enthusiastic grin on his face. "All I need to do is get registered and I'm in the running for this region's Gym challenge like that." Grey snapped his fingers for emphasis.

"It's really that easy?" Rachel queried. She'd always figured Pokémon trainer registration would take a lot more than that. "I expected some kind of huge process."

"Nah, it's surprisingly easy. Anyway, let's go!" Grey threw the door open, scaring several lab aides in the process. The shocked people turned to look at the boy in the Arcanine jacket with looks of shock, fear or surprise. As expected, an awkward silence hung in the air.

"Uh… who are you, kid?" one aide asked once he'd regained composure.

"I'm here to see Professor Hawthorne," Grey stated. "Name's Grey Thomas from Puel Town."

"And I'm his sister Rachel."

"Vul vul!"

"Ah, a kid from Almia, huh? Well, the professor didn't say anything about any new trainers coming through. You here for a Pokémon?" The aide asked. "By the way, my name's Jeremy. You guys can get back to work now; I got this," he added to his co-workers.

"Nah, not for a Pokémon. Just for registration in the Gym challenge and maybe a Pokédex." Grey's eyes shone with anticipation at the prospect of his very own Pokédex. It would be much, MUCH better than that useless Ranger Browser.

"I'm afraid I don't have the authority to do that; the Professor keeps all twelve Starter Pokémon and Pokédex models in storage and we can't touch them without her permission," Jeremy said apologetically.

"What?!" Grey shouted, his dreams momentarily deflated. "But, she IS here, right?" he pleaded.

"Well, yes, but --" Jeremy began.

"Jeremy? Who's down there?" a female voice asked from a room in the back.

"New trainer, Professor Hawthorne," Jeremy called back. You want me to take care of it or --"

"Oh, no, no," the Professor shouted back, again cutting Jeremy off. "I'll take care of it, just let me finish putting Nidoking back in the enclosure."

There was a sound of a Nidoking's roars of protest as someone argued with him to get him to return to the enclosure.

"I know, baby, but it's only for a bit okay?"

"Do! Nido-rah!" Nidoking bellowed sadly, obviously attached to the Professor.

"I'll be back, I promise. Okay?" the Professor cooed.

"Nido!" the Poison Pin Pokémon growled before heavy footsteps were heard before fading.

Then, in stepped Professor Hawthorne. A woman in her late thirties, Amelia Hawthorne's hair was a rusty red color with a few silvery streaks in it. Her eyes, looking slightly bored, were a dark hazel color and she wore a black-as-ebony sundress underneath her stark white lab coat.

"My, my. Don't you look like a rebellious one?" she remarked as soon as she laid her disinterested eyes on Grey's face. "You look ready for a fight."

"And you're really blunt. Anyone ever tell you that?" Grey volleyed.

"Grey!" Rachel admonished. Professor Hawthorne just laughed. She placed her hands on her hips, regarding Grey with a wry smile, and said,

"You certainly don't care for formalities, do you? I like that; today's youth are too formal and polite. It's nice to see somebody like you around." Grey beamed. "Now, whaddaya want?"

"Not your stereotypical professor, are you?" Grey wondered aloud. "Well, that's not important. I'm here to register for this region's Gym challenge and League and to get a Pokédex. Can you do that?"

"Of course," the Professor said airily. "It won't take too much time off my schedule anyway, unlike June's antics tend to," she muttered. She waved the thought away with a hand and continued speaking. "All I have to do is get a Pokédex registered under your name and then you're all set. Now, follow me."

Amelia led the siblings to a room on the upper level of the lab where most of the important equipment was. There was a container capsule of some kind with twelve Pokéballs - four trays of three balls - sat motionless. There was a large computer of some kind near the back and two file cabinets which didn't see much use, as files were strewn all over the ground and on tables. A coffee machine was sat next to the capsule container and next to that was a drawer with a reading lamp with some very important papers on it, as well as a smaller personal computer.

The professor opened the drawer while Grey, Rachel and Vulpix waited in the doorway. She came back up with a black device in her left hand and five Pokéballs in her right and handed both items to Grey.

"So, this is --"

"A Pokédex, yes," Hawthorne cut in. "It has the ability to give information on any Pokémon you want to analyze, be it wild or trained. It can also detect which moves Pokémon in your possession currently know, as well as their level of growth, vital stats, health condition, et cetera. All you have to do is activate it and press your thumbprint onto the green lens on the center and it's registered in your name."

Grey did as instructed, plucking a stylus from the side of the Pokédex and touching the screen tentatively. The device's screen lit up and flashed the words:

Pokédex Ver. 5.0

on the screen. Grey pressed his thumb onto the lens and the screen analyzed it before finally registering it as Grey's.

"That's actually pretty cool," Rachel remarked. Realizing her mistake, she quickly added, "Not as cool as the Ranger Browser, though." Hawthorne snorted loudly.

"That piece of junk? It can't do half the things the Pokédex can. You might as well sell it for parts," she laughed raucously as Rachel's face tinged pink.

"Told you so," Grey said in a teasing voice. Turning back to the Professor, he said, "So, this thing will act as my trainer's license, too, right?"

"Exactly. Now, would you like a choice in a Starter Pokémon?" she offered, gesturing to the capsule container to her left. Grey waved the thought off, stating,

"No, I already have a Pokémon with me and he's a registered Starter, anyway." Grey paused for a moment, a look of pensiveness on his face. "But, my sister doesn't; why not give her a choice?"

"Who; me?!" Rachel screeched. "Oh, no, I couldn't! I already have Vulpix and Pokémon Rangers aren't allowed to use Pokéballs!"

"Well, we aren't in Almia," Hawthorne pointed out. "Outside of their rules, you're perfectly authorized to use Pokéballs."

"Live a little, sis. You can't go through life abiding by every single rule!" Grey got behind his sister and gave her a push towards the capsule container. It opened up, revealing four trays of three balls each all stacked on top of one another.

"Ohhh," Rachel whined. "I really shouldn't do this."

"Vul! Vulpix!" Vulpix urged. Oblivious to the rules of the Pokémon Rangers, much less what was going on, Vulpix supported her owner in this endeavor.

"Just pick one and quit bellyaching!" Hawthorne huffed. "It's really getting on my nerves."

"You?" Grey scoffed. "Try living with her."

Ignoring the peanut gallery, Rachel tentatively studied each tray. The top one was marked with a stamp which read 'Kanto', the second 'Johto', the third 'Hoenn' and the last read 'Sinnoh'. She bent down to look at the third tray and Vulpix got up on her hind legs to paw at it. Each ball was marked with a different elemental symbol.

Fed up with waiting, she plucked the ball with the blue mark off the tray and felt the ball in her hand. Its cold metal surface sent a chill down her spine. It made her feel as if she were breaking every rule she'd been taught as a Ranger.

"Come on, sis! What's the point of using that stupid Styler at your side if you don't even get to make friends with the Pokémon you meet? Just let the little guy out," Grey said passionately.

Rachel gulped uneasily. She blanched at the thought of what her dad would've done to her if he saw her now.

"Okay…" she mumbled. She popped the ball open, releasing a shiny burst of white light that landed on the floor and took the shape of a young Pokémon.

It was about two feet tall and its body was mostly an azure color with a white underbelly and orange gills. It's tail was a lighter blue than its body and it had a fin at the top of its head. Its small black eyes blinked in confusion as it looked up at the person who released it.

"Kip?" it chirped. Rachel nodded her head to the left in regard to the small Pokémon. The blue Pokémon turned to Vulpix, who regarded the little one with a friendly air.

"Vulpix." _Hello._

"Mud, Mudkip!" _Hi there! Are you an apple? _the little Mudkip asked with a sweet but clueless grin.

"Hey, check it out," Grey laughed. "He likes Vulpix."

"A Mudkip from the Hoenn region. It's a Water-type that evolves into a pretty powerful ally. Good choice," Hawthorne congratulated with a few smatterings of applause. She turned to Grey and said, "Look it up on your Pokédex." Grey pointed the black device at the Mudkip and it beeped before bringing up an image of it onscreen before reciting,

**Mudkip. The Mud Fish Pokémon. Mudkip are generally relaxed Pokémon, only attacking if threatened. This Pokémon uses the fin on its head as a radar to detect nearby bodies of water and also to detect danger. Mudkip are amphibious Pokémon, using the orange gills on their cheeks to breathe underwater. Despite their small bodies, Mudkip possess surprising strength, able to shatter boulders with this power.**

**Gender: Male**

**Known Attacks: Water Gun, Tackle, Bide, Mud Slap, Growl**

**Current Condition: Healthy**

Grey switched the Pokédex off, marveling at the information it yielded.

"That's so awesome. It really can tell you all that. Thanks a lot, Professor Hawthorne," Grey said ecstatically.

"It was my pleasure. Now, may I trouble you for a favor?"

"Sure, what is it?" Grey wondered, watching his sister interact with her new Mudkip.

"He's so cute," she said, stroking his head fin. "Hey there, little guy. My name's Rachel."

"Kip!" _You're pretty!_

Rachel giggled lightly, placing Vulpix on her lap and carrying the Mud Fish in her arms. Mudkip stared down at the ground, wondering how the world got so big so suddenly. Did he get bigger? Or did the world get smaller?

"I'd like you to go look for my daughter, Juniper. See, she's a bit coo-coo in the coconut and likes to do field work on her own which gets her into more trouble than she can handle. Girl's just like her dad," she said, a note of nostalgia settling into her voice.

"Anyway, she's out in the Seabreeze Jungle observing how the native Pokémon live their lives. You can't miss her; she's got red hair and a very loud voice."

"Wonder where she got her personality from," Grey joked with Amelia. The Professor laughed and said,

"That was pretty good. You're not half bad, Mr…" she trailed off.

"It's Grey Thomas. Nice to meet you, Professor Amelia," Grey said. He shook hands with the woman, who deemed the child to be a child after her own heart: sarcastic, cynical and always up for a laugh.

"Well, no need to worry about it. Rachel and I will go look for your daughter and bring her back for you. After that, we'll head off for the first badge," Grey said enthusiastically.

"Thanks, kid. Just make sure nothing happens along the way, if you know what I mean," Amelia said with a sly wink. Grey nodded his head to the left in confusion, making Amelia's face falter. "You have no clue what I'm talking about, do you?"

"Not really," the boy shrugged. "Well, if that's all, let's go, Rachel!"

"Say what?" Rachel turned around, Vulpix on her shoulder and Mudkip doing a handstand balanced on her head. Needless to say, Amelia and Grey burst out laughing.

* * *

"Say, Rosewood. How do you think this Torterra got here?" Juniper mused, riding on said Continent Pokémon's shell. "You think a trainer released it here or something?"

"Furret." _No clue._

"Or maybe the League released it here as part of an experiment. Either way, this is one unusual Torterra. I can't wait to get home and study him."

"Teeeee…ra. Torterra." _Maaan… Does she always talk this much?_

"Oooooh, these leaves and shell are so soft," Juniper gushed, snuggling into Torterra's tree. Makes a great place to sunbathe or just rest in the shade. I wish I had a Torterra like this. Hey, Torterra!"

"Ter!" _No! _Torterra was beginning to regret his decision.

"Awww," the young researcher groaned. "Okay, fine. I did make a promise, didn't I?"

"Fur fur. Ret Furret!" Rosewood trilled. _You can't do this to every Pokémon we meet. It's bad for my image, you know!"_

"Oh, well. At least I can visit. Right, Torterra~?" Jasmine sang. The giant tortoise Pokémon sighed exasperatedly. Why, oh, why, had he decided to humor her?

"You think Sylva would've come if we asked? That Grovyle's always in such a bad mood; she never leaves the lab, so I had to drag her in her ball," Juniper commented. "Why do you think she's always so grouchy?"

As Juniper continued to talk to Rosewood and Torterra, she was completely unaware of the rolling thunderclouds about a mile off looming towards Seabreeze Jungle. The coal black thunderheads flashed white hot as they stomped and roared their way towards Village. Back in Seabreeze Village, the Village was getting ready for the inevitable storm, closing window shutters and packing up shop for the day, but Juniper Hawthorne was spared such negative thoughts through sheer ignorance.

Neither was she aware of the mysterious man hidden near foot of a small mountain in the jungle, or of the small troop of ten dressed in green infantry garb with hair spiked outwards like the back end of a bird that followed loyally behind him. She had no idea of the green and white military-style outfit decorated with gold pins and medals and green shoulder pads sewn in that he wore with an arrogant gait.

The was perched on a small cliff in the rock face, standing with a proud, silent menace and an immeasurable amount of self-confidence. The man's name was Kestrel, a commander from Team Simurgh, and he knew that this thunderstorm was no normal occurrence.

"Oh, no," Kestrel whispered with a savage husk in his tone. A tone that practically screamed that this man was not to be toyed with. "This is no ordinary storm," Kestrel laughed darkly, revealing unusually white teeth. "This storm marks the beginning phase of a long, long campaign. A campaign that begins… with you, Zapdos… Legendary Bird of Thunder…"

Meanwhile, Amelia had told Grey and Rachel where to look for Juniper: the Seabreeze Jungle, a place that the girl frequented for her research. The jungle was hot, it was muggy and it was crawling with Grass and Bug types. Aside from the last characteristic, it was Grey's ideal place to spend a couple of hours. His two Fire types wouldn't mind either. They were now nearing the entrance to the jungle and the change in temperature could be felt even from this distance.

"Mud-mud, Kip kip kip!" _I like be-ing tall! _Mudkip sang, still being cradled and babied by his new trainer. An aura of childish warmth radiated out from him; something Grey was quick to pick up, although in weak fragments.

"Vul vulpix." _You aren't tall. You're being carried._ Andromeda told the young Mud Fish.

"Kip kip?" _What's a carry?_

"What do you think they're talking about?" Rachel wondered, stroking Mudkip's head fin.

"Well, Mudkip said something being tall but Andromeda told him he's just being carried. Sounds to me like he's still a bit young," Grey replied offhandedly. Rachel looked at him confusedly.

"You know what they're saying?" she asked with barely concealed surprise. Her gaze flicked between the Mudkip in her arms and her headstrong younger brother.

"Bits and pieces of it," Grey replied, flicking through the options on his Pokédex. "I think it'll come in handy."

"You never told any of us about it back home," Rachel pointed out. Grey let out a barking laugh.

"Knowing you guys, you'd call me insane and send me to the loony bin!" the boy exclaimed. "All those times you thought I was talking to Soul for the heck of it, I understood at least some of what he was saying. He gets sidetracked a lot, but he's got a nice opinion on things."

As Grey predicted, Rachel's mouth hung open, her expression not unlike that of a fish out of water. He sighed, half in exasperation and the other half in contentment as they had officially crossed into the burning hot floor of the jungle. Digging up Soul's Pokéball, he tossed it into the air and watched as Soul materialized in a flash of light.

"Char!" Soul said. Turning to Grey, he blinked at the Pokédex in his trainer's hands. "Charmander?"

"It's a Pokédex, Soul. It's extremely useful… In fact," Grey said, an idea coming to him. He pointed the Pokédex at the Charmander and it beeped three times before a picture of Soul appeared on its screen.

**Charmander. The Lizard Pokémon. Charmander have the potential to become powerful Pokémon and are easily the most mild-mannered Pokémon in their line of evolution. A Charmander's tail flame is closely related to its strength in battle, as well as its emotions and health. The flame is the source for all of Charmander's Fire-type attacks, as well as the Dragon-type moves a Charmander may learn. Charmander and its flame should not be neglected, but tended to regularly and with care.**

**Gender: Male**

**Known Attacks: Ember, Scratch, Growl, Smokescreen**

**Current Condition: Healthy**

"Charmander?!" Soul shouted in disbelief. There was no way that thing was right! He knew WAY more attacks than that!

"Char char char! Char! Mander!" he shouted, reaching for the Pokédex.

"What? No, you psychopath," Grey laughed.

"Mander!"

"Don't worry about it. A little training and you'll have a lot more attacks," Grey assured his partner.

"You're a freak," Rachel muttered.

"Yeah, go look in a mirror," Grey shot back. Soul pointed and laughed at the girl, making her face go red.

"Stupid lizard," Rachel grumbled. Her anger was soon replaced by fatigue as a wave of heat from inside the jungle barreled into her.

"Aaaugh!" she moaned. "Why is it so hot?! I hate hot!"

"You own a Fire-type and we're in a tropical jungle!" Grey exclaimed. "Quit shoving your foot in your mouth all the time."

"Stop pointing it out!" Rachel argued weakly.

"If I didn't, I'd probably just laugh and you'd get even angrier." Rachel conceded and reluctantly trudged behind Grey, slightly comforted by Mudkip's singing.

The jungle was much larger than it appeared from the outside. Most everything was covered with some kind of foliage, however beautiful, ugly, or just plain disgusting it looked. Bug-types such as Butterfree and Dustox flew from flower to flower, collecting their morning meals. Grey suddenly realized that it was still morning; near eleven o'clock, he reasoned from the sun's position in the sky. Even so, the heat of the sun beat down on them like a person beats a drum.

After a while of walking in silence, except for when they were calling out Juniper's name, Rachel came up with a question.

"Hey, Grey?"

"Yeah, what's up?" Grey answered, still scanning the undergrowth for tracks that might've looked human. "Another thing you want to point out that's wrong about my journey?"

"No, not that," Rachel assured, shifting Mudkip's weight in her arms. The Mud Fish stirred a bit from his nap before resting his blue head in the crook of Rachel's arm.

"Catching Pokémon," she began. "Like… how would you do it?" Grey stopped in his tracks, pensive for a moment as Soul accidentally bumped into his leg.

"You know… I never thought about that. I could try catching a Pokémon now, but…"

"Char char." _Let's wait._ Soul said sleepily.

"You're probably right, Soul. Anyway, let's keep going. I can hear running water," Grey said. "That means there's probably a stream or a river nearby and it's possible that Juniper stopped there. Plus, it gives Soul and I a chance to get some training in."

"If you say so," Rachel said.

* * *

"Okay… I think we may be lost," Juniper groaned, looking out at the expanse of open grassland before her. This was definitely not they way back home; this was the way to Wind Town. The Cloud River was flowing to the south, which definitely meant the next town was down that way.

"Torterra, are you sure this is the way back to Seabreeze Village?" Juniper asked, turning to face the Continent Pokémon. But Torterra only grunted and turned to go back into the jungle.

"Torterra?!" the redhead screeched.

"Fur! Furret!" Rosewood shouted. Both trainer and Pokémon hung their heads in exasperation, their moods dampening further when they heard a rumble of thunder nearby. Juniper looked up to see that a large thunderhead was approaching, meaning rain would inevitably follow.

"Oh, man," Juniper groaned. "Well, it doesn't make any sense to just sit here and wait for the rain. Let's go to Wind Town and wait there until the storm blows over then head back tomorrow, Rosewood."

"Ret fur," the Long Body Pokémon sighed. She jumped off of Juniper's shoulder and proceeded to trot alongside her as they followed the Cloud River towards the next town.

* * *

"Sir!" a Simurgh grunt shouted. He ran over to where Kestrel was stood, still watching the approaching thunderstorm and the legendary bird cloaked by the black clouds. He breathed heavily, clutching his chest because of his asthma.

"Yes, what is it, grunt?" Kestrel asked with an air of sophistication. The grunt took a hit off of his inhaler before continuing.

"Sir, there are a trainer and a Pokémon Ranger down in the lower levels of the forest with a Charmander, Vulpix and Mudkip. What should we do? Take action or just leave them be?"

Kestrel put a hand to his chin and closed his eyes in thought. The two the grunt spoke of could pose a bit of a problem if left alone. But, on the other hand, they didn't know anything about Kestrel and his squad's presence, so they really couldn't do much to stop them, even if they did know. Any other man would've taken the logical route and ignored the children. But, Kestrel was not a man of logic, even if his appearance bespoke one. He was ruthless and sadistic, always relishing the sight of the weak squirming and begging for their lives. He let out a dry laugh.

"Send one of our men after them," Kestrel finally decided. "Have watch them carefully to asses if they'd be any kind of a threat. Normally, I'd have them both eliminated… but that's not why we're here."

The grunt saluted with a shout of 'Sir!', and went to go inform one of his squad mates. Kestrel smiled a devil's smile. Even though they wouldn't die by his hands, he could leave it to his imagination to see how the two would perish.

"Soul, get it with Ember; finish it!" Grey ordered. Soul spat out the fireball, striking the wild Butterfree in the chest with the blow and knocking it out. It quickly got back up and flew in the opposite direction, however, securing Soul's victory.

"Char char!" he laughed triumphantly as his tail flame flared up. Checking the Pokédex, Grey found out that when Soul's flame flared up, it meant he had grown stronger in some way, so that put a smile on his face. Their training was paying off.

"That poor Butterfree," Rachel whined.

"Kip kip!" _Crispy bug!_

"Oh, don't be such a baby, Rae. He'll be fine," Grey said. He looked around to see if there was anything he could use as a training implement.

"Okay, Soul, let's try something different," Grey said, putting the Pokédex back in his pocket. Grey picked out one of the many fallen palm leaves on the ground and held it up.

"That last Ember attack was good, but you still don't have control over it. Before that, it fizzled out like during our fight with Zigzagoon and Jimmy," Grey explained. Soul huffed indignantly at the accusation that his fire was anything less than powerful.

"Sorry, but it's the truth," Grey laughed. "Now, to remedy that, we're going to train in a new way. I'll place these fallen leaves into the river and you have to blast them before they get too far away. It'll teach you aim, as well as train your fire." The Charmander eyed the leaf with a look of skepticism.

"Char char?" _You sure?_

"Of course I am," Grey assured, placing the first three leaves into the water. Soul took careful aim and concentrated on building up a fireball in his mouth. The leaves floated down the river and Soul unleashed the first blast, just missing it. The second successive blast came as a puff of smoke and the last one was the only one that hit the leaf. The three leaves floated downriver, leaving Soul feeling down.

"It's alright; just keep trying, Soul." Grey urged. "Learning to fire Ember rapidly will help your control over it. Just keep it up."

"Char!" Soul grunted. Grey placed the next three into the river as Soul narrowed his eyes at the offending green objects.

He launched the first Ember attack, just skimming the edge of the leaf and creating a cloud of steam; the second hit its mark this time and the third unfortunately came out as a weaker burst but still hit nonetheless.

"Charmander?" Soul wondered in surprise. He had felt the last one as a puff of smoke in his mouth and was understandably shocked when it came out as a fireball, however small.

"You're getting it, Soul!" Grey cheered. "Next round!"

The next round came, this time with five leaves, and Soul took aim. The first, second and fifth Embers hit their marks as full fireballs, the third was a smoke puff and the last was a tiny fireball.

This continued for an hour, with Soul steadily increasing his power and control over Ember. Checking the Pokédex to see why the training had gone so well, Grey found that all Charmander (and to an equal extent, Magmar and Chimchar) are born with better control over their fires than other Fire-types because their flame was both internal and external. Using the external flame yielded easier control, since Charmander had two sources of fire to call upon.

All through their training, Rachel watched Grey's enthusiasm towards his Pokémon, always pushing Soul to get better. Grey didn't push him too hard, either; he let Soul go at his own pace. Maybe she was wrong, she thought. Rachel pushed that thought away. It was ridiculous. A Pokémon Ranger becoming a trainer? Utterly ridiculous.

"Okay, Soul, that's enough for now," Grey said as another leaf burst into flames only to be put out moments later.

"Char Charmander," Soul said, starting to rummage through Grey's bag for an Oran berry. He took three from the bag and speared them on a stick before roasting them over his tail. Grey himself pulled out a bag of sliced bread and toasting that over Soul's tail as well.

"Is there anything in there for us?" Rachel asked grumpily. Grey nodded and swallowed his mouthful of toast.

"A couple of apples at the bottom. I think Mudkip might like them," he said before taking a Pecha berry out, squishing it and spreading it on the toast.

Rachel set Mudkip down to dig through the satchel for an apple while Vulpix snacked on a few Rawst berries herself. As Rachel picked up the red fruit, a brown blur jumped out of the river, took the apple and began to chew on it.

The Pokémon in question had dark brown-orange fur from being out in the sun most of the time, a yellow ring around its neck which looked curiously like a floatation ring, two tails, blue fins on its arms and one cream spot on its back. It looked over at Rachel and Grey and their Pokémon before returning its attention to its stolen apple.

"Hey!" Rachel shouted at the Pokémon!

"Wait," Grey said suddenly, pulling out his Pokédex. It pinged, brining up a picture of the Pokémon before them.

**Buizel, the Sea Weasel Pokémon. Buizel are Water-type Pokémon that tend to live in fast-moving rivers. The yellow ring around Buizel's neck is a floatation sac that allows the Pokémon to keep its head above water which is an essential trait for living in its habitat. Buizel uses its twin tails much like boat propellers to swim with or against the current. Buizel are known for their signature move, Aqua Jet.**

**Gender: Female**

"That's awesome," Grey said. "But what's it doing in a jungle? I always thought they lived near plains or mountainous areas. Plus, this river doesn't really move that fast."

"A river like this tends to pick up the farther down it goes. This part of the river would probably move faster during the rain," Rachel pointed out. "It must have come up here for food."

"Well, looks like it's my lucky day," Grey grinned, pulling out an empty Pokéball and enlarging it. "Soul, we're catching this one!"

The Charmander sprung up immediately and grinned at the promise of a battle.

"But that's a Water-type," Rachel said. "Soul won't stand a chance!"

"You never know until you try, right?" Grey persisted. "Soul, let's start while it's eating. Smokescreen for cover."

Soul grimaced at the thought, but obeyed and sent the black cloud of smoke out from his mouth. The Buizel, suddenly confused as to why the lights went out, looked around wildly, shouting in annoyance.

"Bui bui!~!" she shouted, using Quick Attack to sprint out of the smoke, stopping to rub her stinging eyes.

"Ember," Grey ordered. As per usual, Soul's tail flame grew as the fireball formed in his mouth before being launched at Buizel. The attack hit, but, due to Buizel's typing, it didn't hurt too badly. She was, however, left with a black burn mark on her arm.

Buizel growled angrily before jumping into the air and cracking her tails like a whip, sending a brutal Sonic Boom attack crashing into Soul's head. He fell onto his back, which allowed Buizel to fire Water Gun, striking Soul square in the gut.

"Chaa~ar!" Soul screamed in agony, the water acting like an acid to him. Grey grit his teeth, hating to see Soul get hit so hard.

"Soul, get back up!" Grey urged his friend. Soul staggered back up and flared his tail again, ready to get back on the offensive.

"Great," Rachel muttered. "He's going to embarrass himself."

"Vul vul," Vulpix sighed as Mudkip watched with a wide, cute smile.

"She can't see too well after the Smokescreen. Get in there and use Scratch," Grey said. Soul charged forward, catching Buizel off guard as she attempted to clear her eyes of the burning sensation, and raked his claws across her stomach.

"Another one, Soul!" Grey urged, his grin returning.

"Cha~rmander!!" Soul screamed, lashing out again. This time, however, his claws glowed with a metallic silver sheen before he slammed them into the side of Buizel's head.

"The heck was that?" Grey blinked, astonished. He flicked through the Pokédex once more, looking for info on the new attack.

**Metal Claw, **the device recited monotonously. **A Steel-type attack Charmander learns after reaching a certain level of power. This attack may have the side-effect of raising the user's attack power. Steel-type attacks are effective against Ice and Rock-type Pokémon, but do half the amount of damage against Fire, Water, Steel and Fighting-type Pokémon.**

"Bui bui! Bui!" Buizel shouted angrily, shooting off another Water Gun. Grey was caught off guard, so he screamed out the first attack to come to mind.

"Ember attack! Counter it!" Soul's fireball crashed into the water stream, effectively canceling both attacks out. "Great; now get her with Metal Claw!"

Soul's claws again glowed silvery white, but just before Metal Claw hit, a cracking rumble of thunder sounded, it began to rain, and Buizel suddenly gained a speed boost. She twisted her body around the attack before blasting Soul with a close-range Water Gun attack. Soul fell flat on his back and Buizel jumped back into the river, but not before taking her stolen apple with her.

"Told you you'd embarrass yourself, little brother," Rachel said smugly, laughing along with Vulpix.

"Vul vul pix!" the Fox Pokémon laughed. _You got your ass handed to you!_

"Mud Mudkip?" _What's an ass?_

"Charmander!" _Shut up!_

"Yeah, Soul's right! We did our best and we're just beginners, anyway. Cut us some slack, will you?" Grey growled, his mood dampening along with his clothes in the rain. He dug into his bag for an umbrella as Soul began to protest against the feeling of rain against his skin, the combination creating small threads of steam.

"Return, Soul," Grey said clearly, calling the Charmander back into his ball. Grey heaved a sigh and got his bag before getting up to leave. "Well, you can't win them all, especially with a type advantage for the opponent. We'll just try harder and maybe we'll find Buizel tomorrow; for now, let's just get to the next town before we drown out here."

"Yeah, let's," Rachel agreed, putting Mudkip back into his ball and carrying Vulpix close so she wouldn't get wet.

The two continued down the road, careful to stay away from any tall trees because of the lightning that started up. The thunder was almost deafening. It was like this storm was angry or something; furious even. The rain progressed from small droplets to large spheres that felt like stones were being dropped on their heads.

"Still want to be a trainer?" Rachel shouted over the thunder. "You'll have to travel like this a lot!"

"It's worth it!" Grey shouted back over the rain. "I told you; I'm not giving up! Never say die!"

"You're so -- !" But Rachel's words were drowned out by the sound of a massive roll of thunder and the light of a blinding thunderbolt that seemed to split the sky apart. Between the thunderheads, Grey saw a flash of something yellow; something huge. He stopped in his tracks, causing Rachel to bump into him before gawking at the sight before them.

A loud screeching was heard followed by another boom of thunder, as a figure spread the black clouds apart with its wings. The electricity from the storm seemed to come straight from it and it writhed and twisted like living snakes of lightning. The bird Pokémon screeched again, sending a Thunderbolt attack into the clouds before pumping its massive yellow wings and flying away.

Mouth hanging open, Grey silently pulled out his Pokédex and pointed it at the thunderbird, hoping to find out what it was. The Pokédex pinged for the fifth time that day, bringing up an image of the bird that controlled storms.

**Zapdos, the Electric Pokémon. Zapdos is known in legends as the Bird of Thunder. It gathers electricity from the atmosphere during flight, releasing the excess power as thunderbolts. Zapdos is known to bring storms wherever it flies. No further information.**

"Whoa…" Grey breathed. "You still want to tell me being a trainer's not worth it?" Rachel could only shake her head no.

* * *

**This took me a while to write. Unlike the last two chapters, this chapter's about the usual length for me.**

**I promised you a new character, I gave you three. Although, Kestrel doesn't get much of an intro.**

**As for Grey having food in that satchel of his… Well, it had to be somewhere. Where do you think Brock kept all those pots and soup ingredients?**

**Rachel lieks Mudkipz! Who saw that one coming?**

**It's official. Grey's entered as an official challenger of the Silver Ring Archipelago Gym Challenge. How will he fare?**

**The first Gym is located in a place called Knight City, but they'll have to go through Wind Town and cross plains land to get there, leaving Grey ample time to capture, train and strategize.**

**I'm betting that most of you thought Juniper was the real Professor Hawthorne, huh? Got you there! She's a bit crazy, but it's the cute kind of crazy.**

**Anyone spot the D/P reference?**

**Read and Review, please**


	4. Lucy in the River with Aspear Berries

Speedy updates are a rare occurrence for me and a lucky thing for all those who enjoy my story. In this story… Well, it's sorta obvious, but I won't spoil it for you guys. I will tell you that it involves a new capture for Grey and that Pokémon's initial adjustment to Grey. All of you enjoy :D

**Disclaimer:** I _**DO NOT**_ own the Pokémon franchise in any way. I write this for fun and because the voice in my head told me this was the only alternative to burning things :]

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**Chapter Four: **Lucy in the River with Aspear Berries

Juniper finally made it into Wind Town just as the rain had begun to really pick up. She was wet, but at least she'd left the squall behind for the sunshine of Wind Town. The town was slightly larger than Seabreeze Village with windmills littering every empty space in town. The devices were almost as abundant as trees. The town was in the middle of plains area which was at the last area before a rocky, mountainous zone surrounded by a thicket of trees. Juniper had only been to Wind Town a couple of times before, but she knew the general layout.

"Man," she sighed, wringing out her lab coat. "Those afternoon squalls really get to you, huh, Rosewood?" The Furret shook out her five-foot body, trilling as the water droplets flew off.

"Think we should call Mom?" Juniper asked, picking up and cradling Rosewood.

"Furret," she squeaked, nuzzling into her owner. Juniper laughed and looked out towards the squall she had so narrowly escaped, watching as a particularly violent lightning bolt struck out.

"Ouch," she giggled. "I would hate to still be stuck in that. Oh, well; we got out alive, right, Rosewood?"

"Ret Furret." _You're telling me. _Rosewood agreed, hating what the humidity of the jungle did to her fur.

"Come on. Let's go tell mom we're alright," Juniper said, walking towards the Pokémon center.

Back on the edge of the jungle, Grey and Rachel had also just gotten out of the squall. Grey turned around and looked towards the miniature storm, marveling at how the rain stopped at the boarder between jungle and open land and the swift river to their left.

"Cool, huh?" Grey said, releasing Soul from his ball. "You never see something like that back home."

"No, I guess you don't," Rachel agreed. "What do you think that giant bird… Zapdos, was it? What was it doing out here?" Grey shrugged noncommittally as Soul wondered what a Zapdos was.

"I don't know. I mean, that thing was supposed to be an ultra-rare Pokémon with control over lightning. It could've just been wandering through and brought that storm out with it. Either way, something like that was a rare sight, but we've gotta get going."

"You're really hellbent on this, aren't you?" Rachel sighed.

"Exactly. I'm not giving this up, so nothing you can say will --"

"Fine, then," Rachel said, cutting Grey off. "I'll follow you on this… this crazy twisted trip you've got planned. If I weren't around, you'd be hopeless," she laughed. Grey's face fell like a ton of bricks.

"Char Charmander," Soul pointed out. _That was unexpected._

"You totally ruined the big speech I had planned," Grey laughed. "Well, let's not hang around here longer than we have to."

"Char!" _Yeah!_

"So, where's the first Gym?" Rachel asked.

"From what Zach told us back in the plane, it's in a place called Knight City. We'll have to cross through a rockier area than this one and that's after the next town, which should be about five miles away," Grey explained.

"Doesn't sound too hard for the two of us," Rachel deduced, letting Mudkip out of his ball.

"Vulpix vul," Vulpix sighed. _Speak for yourself._

Mud mud! Mudkip!" _Yay yay! A trip!_

"Mudkip doesn't seem too mind the trip, but Vulpix seems sort of put off by the idea," Grey laughed.

"I still don't get how you do that," Rachel said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I learned how to do it from Soul. Well, I sorta just heard him talking one day. It was weird, but I got used to it," Grey shrugged.

"Char char char! Charmander?" _It's 'cause we're friends! Right? _Soul asked.

"You bet, Soul. Now, enough talk, let's go." Grey adjusted the strap on his shoulder, grin spread on his face, and started onward.

It continued like that for a while, until Grey became bored and decided to give Soul some extra training by tossing berries into the air while Soul attempted to roast them using Ember. Soul's control over his fire was steadily getting better, but his aim still needed work. More often than not, a berry would fall to the ground without being hit. It was one such occurrence that gave Grey another chance at his first capture.

An Aspear berry was just skimmed by one of Soul's Embers, causing the berry to take on a spin and fall towards the river. The rock-hard berry landed on a dark brown-orange head floating in the river and Buizel became enraged, searching for who or whatever dared to hit her with a rock-berry.

"Bui! Bui bui zerul!" _Okay, what in the hell was that?!_ Buizel jumped out of the water and cracked her whiplike tails furiously, searching for what threw the berry.

"It's that same Buizel!" Grey noted from the burn mark on her arm. Realizing how obvious that sounded, he made a mental note never to state the obvious without sarcasm again.

"Think you burned her?" Rachel asked.

"Most likely," Grey said, switching into a battle stance. "Soul, get ready. This time, we're catching her." He pulled out the empty ball from before and Soul bounded in front of his trainer.

"Charmander!" _Right!" _Soul grunted with a nod, fangs showing in a feral grin as he flexed his claws in anticipation.

"_It was you?!"_ Buizel shouted at the Charmander. _"I'm gonna rip you apart!"_ Soul stared at her with a shocked look on his face.

"Think she's mad?" Grey grinned despite the raging Sea Weasel before him. Buizel launched a fierce Water Gun attack, aiming to cause as much damage as possible, but Soul ducked under it before it hit. Buizel then switched to physical attacks as a ring of water appeared at her feet before enveloping her as she rocketed at Soul in an Aqua Jet attack. The blow hit hard, knocking Soul off his feet as Buizel landed with a smug grin.

"Don't give up, Soul," Grey said tersely. He was dealing with a fast, angry Water-type with a Charmander as his only line of defense. Anybody else would've abandoned all hope, but Grey just let the adrenaline flow and kept his spirits up. Soul staggered up, the spot on his gut practically spitting out steam due to the Water-type attack hitting its mark.

To Soul, the water felt like an acid eating away at his scales. He wiped it off frantically, angrily trying to soothe his pain.

"Alright; she's angry, so she won't be able to focus as she would normally. We'll use that to our advantage." Grey looked over at his steaming partner with a smirk on his face. Soul was holding out and for that, Grey was grateful.

"You alright, Soul?" The Lizard Pokémon nodded, ready to continue.

"Then let's do it. Smokescreen, then get in there for Scratch!" Grey commanded, slashing his arm through the air with a manic grin.

Soul took a deep breath and belched out a thick cloud of black, acrid smoke. It washed over Buizel and got into her eyes, making them water and sting. Buizel's eyes turned red and puffy; she scrabbled at them to get her vision back to normal. During her blind groping, she felt a set of sharp claws rake themselves across her back, enticing a howl of pain from her.

"Okay!" Grey cheered. Soul jumped out of his smokescreen and grinned in payback from his earlier defeat. Several Water Guns and Sonic Booms erupted out of the thick smoke as products of Buizel's rage and one of the attacks narrowly missed Grey's head. He surprisingly laughed at it, despite nearly getting a concussion via Sonic Boom.

"Are you crazy or something?!" Rachel shouted. "You could've been killed!" She struggled to keep Mudkip under control, as the little Mud Fish Pokémon was having much too much fun with this battle.

"Mud mud!" _Go, red thing! _the young one cheered obliviously.

"Soul, target practice! Ember attack!" Grey shouted, his voice nearly cracking. Soul's flame grew as usual, the fireball formed in his mouth and was launched at Buizel with a fierce vigor. The projectile struck, but Buizel shook it off with little trouble, launching another Sonic Boom that struck Soul clear in the head.

Buizel geared up for another Aqua Jet attack, launching herself forward in the cloak of water. However, a combination of the Smokescreen still stinging her eyes and her own anger caused her to miss completely and sail into the ground. As Buizel staggered back up, Grey and Soul saw their chance.

"Soul, full power Metal Claw!"

"Char Charmander!" _Got you now!_ Soul shouted savagely, enjoying the battle with a fervent ardor. His claws glowed a with a metallic sheen as he brought them down on Buizel's head, sending it crashing into the ground and knocking her out.

"Got you now!" Grey echoed his Pokémon, pulling his hand back, the muscles in his arm tensing up as he launched the ball forward at Buizel. He and Soul and even Rachel and her Pokémon watched with anticipation as the ball struck the Sea Weasel Pokémon's head and enveloped her in a bright red light and vacuumed her into it. The Pokéball snapped shut and landed with a metallic thud.

"Did you catch her?" Rachel asked, finding herself watching with anticipation. This _was_ the first time she'd seen something like this happen.

"Hold on," Grey hissed as if the slightest mistake could make this endeavor fail. The ball shook once, twice, three times before it finally stopped and Grey exhaled his held breath. Soul walked up to the ball and picked it up, handing it to his trainer.

A wide, wild grin broke out across Grey's fiace and he punched the air in victory as Soul mimicked his actions.

"Yes!" Grey cried happily. "First capture and it's a complete success!"

"But you lost the first time," Rachel pointed out.

"Don't ruin this for me, woman!" Grey shouted, still dancing in victory.

"Char-man-der!" Soul cried.

"You are so right, my friend!" Grey replied.

"What'd he just say?" Rachel asked.

"Mudkip mud?" _What's a 'bitch'?_ Mudkip asked cutely, turning to Vulpix. "Mud mud, kip Mudkip?" _Is that some kind of food?_

"Vul… Vulpix!" _Uh… Sure it is!_ Vulpix replied uneasily. She made a mental note to slap Soul at the earliest opportunity for corrupting this child's mind.

Finally stopping his victory dance, Grey pulled his Pokédex from his pocket and held his new Buizel's Pokéball under it. The Pokédex scanned the ball three times over before giving the results.

**Buizel, the Sea Weasel Pokémon.**

**Gender: Female**

**Known Attacks: Quick Attack, Aqua Jet, Pursuit, Water Gun, Growl, Sonic Boom**

**Current Condition: Burned**

"Sounds like we should get her wounds healed, huh?" Rachel suggested, brining Mudkip and Vulpix over. Mudkip danced around Soul while congratulating the Fire-type before Vulpix slapped Soul with her tails.

"Char char!" _That hurt! _Soul protested, rubbing his head.

"Vulpix!" _Good! _Vulpix huffed.

"Yeah," Grey replied. "But we can take care of her burn right here. Hand me a Burn Heal from the bag, will you?" Rachel complied, digging into Grey's messenger bag and handing him the medicine. Grey tossed Buizel's ball into the air and the Sea Weasel appeared in a burst of silver.

Buizel took a confused look at her surroundings before finally resting her eyes on Grey and snarling.

"Bui bui!" _Get away!_ she barked, anger and fear radiating off of her. She'd heard what humans were like when they caught Pokémon in those red and white death spheres they carried around; heard stories of how they abused Pokémon and misused their casual love of battle for their selfish, human gains. Well, Buizel wouldn't have it. She struck out at Grey with her tails when his hand approached and took a defensive stance, her fur standing on end like nettles and her eyes narrowing in rage.

Grey could feel Buizel's emotions coming off of her in droves. He felt her fear in the back of his mind, knowing it wasn't his while he nursed his smarting hand. It hurt Grey to see a Pokémon afraid of him while he was this close. It made him feel afraid, too.

"Charmander! Char char!" _Hey! He's only being nice!_ Soul shouted. Anybody who dare harm his friend would have it with Soul personally.

"Bui~! Buizeru bui bui!" _Shut up! Traitor to Pokémon!_

"Grey, we have to calm her down," Rachel said as Mudkip and Vulpix hid behind her legs. "It's okay, Mudkip," she said soothingly to the Mud Fish. "Can't you do something?"

"I'm trying," Grey muttered. "Buizel, calm down. I won't hurt you. Sorry that Soul and I had to rough you up a bit, but I guess it's sort of tradition. Let's just be friends, okay?" Grey took an Oran berry out from his bag and offered it to the Sea Weasel, who sniffed it in curiosity. She never let her guard down, though.

While she was distracted by the berry, Grey sprayed the Burn Heal on her injured arm. Buizel screeched in anger, lashing out and biting Grey's wrist. Grey endured the pain, however, determined to get Buizel to like him.

"Does your burn still hurt?" he asked through gritted teeth. Buizel looked down at her arm. Her fur was still blackened by the Ember she sustained, but her burn was completely gone, replaced by a cool, soothing sensation.

"Bui?" she blinked in astonishment.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Buizel," Grey assured. "Soul and I are your friends. Oh, Soul's the Charmander you fought before." Buizel turned around to see the Lizard Pokémon grudgingly wave to her. The Charmander still angry that Buizel attacked his friend.

Grey felt Buizel's emotions calm in the back of his head, but she was still wary of Grey. She accepted the berry from the human and nibbled on it after she was sure this wasn't all a trick.

"Nice job, Grey," Rachel applauded. "You'd make a great ranger if you can do that." Grey groaned in disgust.

"No thanks; I'm just fine," he said, stroking Buizel's head. The other three Pokémon came to approach Buizel with Mudkip eager to meet a new friend.

_Hi-hi! My name's Mudkip! What's yours? _he asked Buizel cheerily.

_I'm Vulpix, _the Fox Pokémon said simply. _It's nice to meet you._

_Name's Soul. Sorry about roughing you up earlier. You fight like a beast! _Coming from Soul, this was definitely a compliment.

_Uhm… Thank you? _Buizel answered tensely. _I'm Buizel. It's… _she fought to get the word out, _nice… to meet all of you._

_So, you're the newest addition to my and Grey's team, _Soul explained. _We're going to be traveling and fighting together for a long time. _Buizel visibly showed disgust at the idea of taking orders from a human.

_You mean I'm his pet now? _she asked with an annoyed tone.

_Not pet. Partner, _Soul said. _Grey's never treated me like a pet before and he won't treat you like one, either. _Buizel nodded silently and popped the rest of the berry into her mouth.

_Yay! New friend! _Mudkip sang, tackling Grey's newest capture.

_Mudkip, don't tackle her! _Vulpix admonished.

"What are they talking about now?" Rachel laughed after seeing Mudkip's show of affection.

"I really didn't catch all of it; they were saying too much. But the gist of it was that they introduced themselves and Soul put in a good word to Buizel for me," Grey explained, picking up his bags.

"Buizel, Soul," he called to his Pokémon. The two turned to him, Soul expecting an order and Buizel with harsh indifference. Grey opened his mouth to say more but then closed it and put his hand to his chin in thought.

"What's up?" Rachel asked. She picked up her two Pokémon, Mudkip now riding on her head.

"It's just… I can't go around and call Buizel 'Buizel' all the time. It seems sort of impersonal," Grey reasoned. He crouched down and faced the Sea Weasel with a look of deep thought on his face. "So, you need a name. But the question is: 'Which one?'"

"Bui?" Buizel squeaked. A name? All her life, she'd just been called by her species name, never really giving any thought to a real name. Grey snapped his fingers, coming out of his reverie with a name he thought fit Buizel perfectly.

"Lucy," he said simply. "That's what we'll call you now. You like that name?"

"Bui." _Lucy, _Buizel said, repeating the name to see how it sounded. Yes, that name was good; it was simple and elegant. Buizel nodded, still regarding this trainer with caution.

"It's settled, then," Grey grinned. "Welcome to the team, Lucy." Soul jumped up on Grey's back and set his arms and head on the boy's shoulder. Grey in turn picked up Lucy in order to let her ride on his other shoulder. This didn't sit well with the Water-type.

"Bui bui!" she protested and squirmed before grabbing onto Grey's head to keep her balance. Grey just laughed and picked his things up before continuing down the road to Wind Town.

"You're gonna fit in just fine, Lucy," he assured. All the while, Rachel watched, tailing behind Grey with her mind lost in thought. She was still convinced Grey would make a Grey Pokémon Ranger with the amount of kindness he showed his Pokémon. But, sadly, she'd never been able to convince Grey of that.

About ten miles and three-and-a-half hours later, a travel-haggard Grey crossed the threshold into Wind Town. Just as Juniper had noticed before, Grey saw the multitude of windmills in town and the slight but strong breeze that blew through the plains town. The Cloud River ran straight through the town and was kept clean and clear. Bridges and an irrigation system were built so the river wouldn't get in the way of construction.

Soul and the newly-named Lucy hopped off their trainer's shoulder and looked around at all the people and Pokémon in town. It was nothing new for Soul to see people and their Pokémon friends walking side-by-side, but Lucy was completely transfixed and baffled. She'd never thought other Pokémon partnered with humans like his Charmander did. It was entirely foreign to her.

Rachel told Grey she was going off to the Mart to buy some food for her Pokémon before going off on her own. Grey didn't mind a bit; it'd give him more time to bond with Lucy. But, before all that, he'd have to get Lucy and Soul's injuries healed at the Pokémon Centre.

"Come on, guys. It's time we got a well-deserved rest," Grey smiled. Soul followed happily with a hesitant Lucy behind him. The Centre doors pulled apart and Grey walked in, thankful for the air conditioning that slightly cooled him down. Soul grumbled at the drop in temperature and Lucy stayed indifferent.

Looking at the front desk where the Nurse Joy stood, Grey was reminded of his mom. He wondered how she was doing. A pang of guilt rung through him at the thought of her reaction to his runaway, so he figured he'd send a message via family connections.

"Char Charmander," Soul pointed out, referring to the rosette nurse.

"I know, Soul," Grey said. "Hey, Aunt Joy," he called, walking up to the desk. Nurse Joy's face became puzzled. Did she know this boy?

"Hello, and welcome to the Pokémon Centre," she recited. "I'm afraid I don't know you."

"Man, mom's side of the family's huge," Grey grinned. "My name's Grey Thomas, your cousin's son. She's married to a Pokémon Ranger named Van." Joy's face lit up in remembrance.

"Ah, so you're Grey!" she said happily. "Joy's told me so much about you. What are you doing here?"

"On a Pokémon journey; just started today," Grey beamed. "So, you can guess why I'm here," he said, gesturing to Soul and Lucy. Joy nodded in understanding.

"Okay then; just return them to their Pokéballs and I'll take care of them for you. Anything else?" Joy offered kindly. Grey was again reminded of his mom. This was exactly how she acted when rangers and trainers came into the Centre back in Almia and it made him feel a bit happier, if not slightly homesick.

"Yeah. If you can, I'd like a guidebook for this region and for you to pass on a message to Mom. Tell her I'll call when I get a chance, please," Grey requested. He soon remembered his promise to Professor Hawthorne and quickly added, "Oh, right! Did a girl with red hair come through here? Possibly wearing a lab coat?" Joy put her finger to her chin thoughtfully before answering.

"Yes, Professor Hawthorne's daughter. She dropped off her Furret and Grovyle here a half hour ago and then left to run an errand. When she gets back, I'll tell her you stopped by."

"Thanks a lot, Aunt Joy," Grey said. He pulled out Lucy and Soul's Pokéballs, pointing at them and calling, "Return." The Charmander and Buizel were struck by the red light before becoming absorbed in themselves and called back into their capsules. Grey placed the balls on a tray Nurse Joy had brought out from under her desk and his aunt took them into the back room.

Grey stretched and took a seat near the wall and put his hood up to rest. He'd put in a good effort today, he reasoned proudly. A light rest was well deserved before he got in some training and set off towards Knight City.

The Centre doors opened once more and Juniper walked in with an innocent look on her face. She looked over at Grey sitting off to the side with his hood up and walked over to him to introduce herself. She plopped down on the seat, but when that didn't wake Grey up, she readied her loud voice and said,

"Hi there!" Grey woke with a startled yell and nearly fell out of his seat. "My name's Juniper. What's yours?" she asked innocently. Grey clutched his chest and looked at the girl with a dishevelled look on his face. So this was Juniper. Amelia had been right; she had a loud voice.

"Uh, hi there," Grey said nervously. "My name's Grey."

"Grey, huh? That's a nice name. Where are you from?" Juniper asked with a smile.

"Puel Town in Almia. And your mom sent me to look for you. Did you get lost on your way back home or something?" the boy laughed. Juniper rubbed her head in embarrassment.

"Oh, that… Yeah, I sort of did. Hitched a ride on a Torterra and he decided to drop me off here instead of back home. And I missed my chance to study him, too," the girl huffed angrily. Grey could only laugh. This girl was good for a good one every now and then and she didn't seem as crazy as she was made out to be.

"So, are you a trainer?" Juniper asked, guessing by Grey's clothing. Grey rubbed his nose smugly.

"Yeah, I am. Pretty cool, huh?" he bragged.

"Sure is! When did you start?" she asked. Grey's air of accomplishment deflated like a balloon.

"Uh… just today, actually," he said sheepishly. Juniper giggled softly. "Hey, don't laugh. We all have to start somewhere, right?"

"Yeah, you're right. So, what kinds of Pokémon have you got with you?"

"A Charmander I've had since I was twelve and a Buizel I caught a couple of hours ago. She's still getting used to me, though," Grey said.

"Wow, a Charmander! Those are supposed to be really rare! Can I please study him?" Juniper pleaded, getting down on her knees and clasping her hands together. Grey rose an eyebrow inquisitively.

"S-sure," Grey stuttered. "Has anyone ever tell you you're really… eccentric?" He decided to go with the least offensive word he could think of.

"I get that a lot, so, yeah," Juniper giggled. "It's all right, though. I love being called that. As for the Pokémon I have with me right now, I have a Furret named Rosewood and a Grovyle named Sylva. Rosewood's kind of a priss and Sylva seems to be in a bad mood most of the time."

"That's cool. Lucy, my Buizel, has a pretty bad temper from what I can tell and Soul's just a battle-happy psycho. He's a great friend, though."

"I've always wanted a chance to study the habits of captured Pokémon!" Juniper shouted suddenly. "Can I please, please, please study your Charmander and Buizel?! This is a really rare opportunity!"

"Sure you can, just don't beg," Grey said, slightly scared. "How old are you anyway?"

"Sixteen," Juniper answered simply.

"_No way!"_ Grey shouted mentally. At that moment, he remembered he had to call Amelia when he found Juniper. "Oh, yeah; your mom asked me to call her when I found you. You want to call her number on the vid-phone?" Juniper nodded and got up to dial the number and smiled as her mother's face appeared onscreen.

"Hi, mom," she said. "I made it to Wind Town just fine and I met the boy you sent to come find me. He's really nice." Grey took that as his cue to show himself.

"Hey, Professor H," he waved. "Found her just like you asked."

"I can see that," Amelia smiled.

"What? No thanks?" Grey said, feigning insult. Amelia laughed again.

"Like I said, it's good to have kids like you around, Grey," she said. "Anyway, Juniper, how'd you end up in Wind Town?" Juniper explained everything to her mother; the Torterra, the storm and her ending up in the windmill-strewn town.

"Aah, I see. Well, Torterra have been known to be pretty forgetful Pokémon," the woman nodded sagely.

"Really?" Grey wondered aloud.

"No, not really," the professor deadpanned.

"Anyway, Mom," Juniper cut in, "D'you think it'd be okay for me to travel with Grey for the time being? It'd really help my research and I think it'd be interesting to watch how Pokémon captured by trainers behave in contrast to wild ones."

"Well, I don't know, June," Amelia said hesitantly. "You don't have a full supply bag or anything right now and you'll need supplies for your Pokémon as well." Juniper's face fell.

"Awww. Okay, Mom. I'll come home if --"

"But!" Amelia started again, cutting her daughter off. "I could just mail you some money and a fully packed bag if you really want to." It was remarkable how decisive yet indecisive the woman was.

"Grey, where are you headed to?" she asked the boy.

"Knight City, but I thought you said that --" Grey began.

"Oh, nonsense!" Amelia laughed, waving the thought off with a hand. "She can't just stay cooped up in the lab all her life. Field work is a great opportunity for her, given the number of Pokémon living in the archipelago! I say go, and that's final. Bye-bye now~!" And with that, the abnormal professor hung up the phone, leaving the two teenagers in a state of pure confusion.

"Well, that's Mom for you," June said sheepishly. "Always changing her mind at the weirdest possible time."

"Yeah, I noticed," Grey said just as uneasily.

"Juniper Hawthorne and Grey Thomas, you're Pokémon are ready for pickup," Nurse Joy called out in her soothing voice. The two in question picked up their Pokéballs, with Grey picking up the guidebook he asked for, and thanked Nurse Joy.

"I sent my sister Rachel out for supplies a while ago, so, when she gets back, we'll set off for Knight City," Grey said as soon as they'd left the Centre. "But first…" Grey tailed off, enlarging two Pokéballs. "Lucy, Soul, come on out!"

The balls split open at the middle, letting twin waterfalls of silver land on the ground and form into a Buizel and Charmander.

"Juniper, meet Soul and Lucy," Grey introduced, pointing to his Pokémon in turn.

"Charmander?" _Who's the chick?_

"Bui Buizeru!" _I hate that thing! _Lucy shouted, biting Grey's arm in anger.

"Ouch!" Grey grit his teeth to get through the pain. "Nice to see you again, too, Luce." The Buizel let go and crossed her arms indignantly. "Oh, come on. Are you going to do that every time you come out of your ball?"

"Bui!"

"Oh, wow!" Juniper exclaimed, marveling at Soul. "I've never seen a Charmander up close before! He looks really healthy and his flame seems to be really strong," she noted, writing the details down on a clipboard she produced from nowhere. Before Grey could ask where she got it from, she began looking over Lucy.

"She seems kind of angry. Has she always acted like this?" she asked Grey, pointing at the Buizel with her pen.

"As far as I know." Grey rubbed his head. "Originally, I failed to catch her. But, Soul managed to burn her, so I guess she's still ticked about that. She also seems to have a bad view about humans so I'll need to prove her wrong about that." He crouched down next to the Buizel and put his hand on her head.

"You need to calm down. If you're always angry, you never have any fun," Grey grinned.

"Bui?"

"Yes, fun," Grey repeated. "You know; enjoying yourself. Having a good time is what I mean. You can have fun traveling with Soul and me, too."

"Bui bui zeru," Lucy muttered.

"Okay, if you say so. But I'll prove you wrong, Luce." Grey looked around, seeing if he could actually implement what he had in mind.

"You can understand her?" Juniper asked, also noting this on her clipboard. "How come?" Grey sighed, annoyed at having to explain his ability to everyone he met. He turned his attention to looking for a fight while opening his mouth to explain.

"Dunno. It just happened when I heard what Soul was saying to me one day. Now, help me find a good battle." Grey's eyes finally landed on a kid just a few years younger than he was with an Elekid and Starly following him.

"There!" Grey shouted, chasing after the boy. "Hey, you! I challenge you to a fight!" The boy turned around and grinned.

"Yeah, sure! Let's get to it right away," the kid said enthusiastically. "I choose Starly first!" The Starling Pokémon flew off its trainer's shoulder, eager to please.

"Star Starly!" it chirped hyperactively. Soul immediately jumped forward and flexed his claws, thinking he was up first.

"No, Soul; Lucy's going first," Grey said. The Charmander's face fell in disbelief. But he ALWAYS went first! First Buizel attacks Grey and then it takes his coveted spot as leader? There's going to be grilled Sea Weasel tonight, Soul thought evilly.

"I know, I know. But you and I are already best friends. Right now, I have to get Lucy to trust me, okay?"

"Char char," Soul sighed, returning to Grey's side.

"And you are not grilling Lucy," Soul added in a deadpan. Soul's mouth fell open when he realized that Grey had heard him. The boy turned to Lucy and nodded at her to get on the field. The Sea Weasel stood rooted to the spot at first before grudgingly moving forward.

"I'll referee!" Juniper said eagerly, holding her hands out. "Starly vs. Buizel! Begin!" she cried, throwing her hands down.

"Starly, Wing Attack!" the unnamed boy shouted. The gray bird Pokémon flapped its wings to get airborne and threw herself at Lucy, wings glowing with a blinding light.

"Lucy, Aqua Jet into the air, then come back down on top of it!" Grey commanded. Lucy looked at him, frustrated because Grey was ordering her around like a pet and confused because of the order itself. Her train of thought was immediately derailed by the impact of Starly's wing on her head. The starling flew back to its master to await further orders while Lucy barked at it angrily.

"Lucy, trust me. If you don't, you'll get creamed out there," Grey pleaded as Starly geared up for a Quick Attack. Lucy grit her teeth and reluctantly nodded, eager to get back at the infernal bird. Starly streaked forward, leaving a trail of white light behind it as it aimed for Lucy's stomach.

"Same as before, Luce! Aqua Jet up and then turn back around to strike!" This time, Lucy obeyed, cloaking herself in water from the atmosphere and jumping up, leaving Starly to tackle through a curtain of water. Lucy used Aqua Jet again, pointing herself down and striking Starly in the back like a giant arrow of water. To add both insult an injury, Lucy cracked her tails twice, her double Sonic Boom attacks hitting Starly in the head and left wing.

"Nice improv, Lucy!" Grey cheered. "I knew you'd do great!" Hearing the praise coming from Grey's mouth, Lucy felt proud of herself; prouder than she had whenever she won a battle in the wild.

_Okay_, she thought, _maybe this human is annoying, but at least he isn't anything like I've heard. I still better be careful._

"Don't take that, Starly!" the nameless boy shouted. "Get that rat back with your Wing Attack!"

"Bui!?" _Rat?!_ Lucy screamed angrily. She fired a Water Gun with intent to kill, striking Starly in the head and sending it reeling as Grey cried,

"Nice shot, now fire another!" Lucy happily obliged this time, launching another Water Gun that sent the Starly crashing into its trainer, completely unconscious.

"Starly is unable to battle," Juniper judged loudly. "Buizel wins!" The angry boy then marshaled his Elekid in to fight next, shouting,

"Quick attack into Thunder Punch!" Elekid raced forward as Starly did before him and slammed his electrically-charged fist into Lucy's stomach before she could react. The Buizel's eyes bulged out of her head as the attack did double-damage to her and left an electrical burn on her stomach. Lucy skidded backwards, holding her stomach in pain with one eye tightly shut as residue static sparked off her body.

"Crap," Grey cursed, realizing Lucy's type disadvantage. He didn't want this battle to end like Soul's first battle against her and have Lucy hate him as a result. He sighed, holding Lucy's ball up. "Return!" he shouted, calling her back into the ball. "You're up, Soul. Kick his ass."

"Charmander," the little salamander grinned, jumping into the field and flexing his claws.

"Tch, this is too easy," the nameless kid said arrogantly.

"Let's prove him wrong, Soul. Double Ember," Grey commanded. As usual, Soul's tail flame grew as the fireball formed in his mouth. He fired the first, then a second, smirking as both connected with Elekid's face. The other boy ordered Elekid to strike back with Thundershock and Elekid rotated its arms wildly to charge up enough power. When it was finished, Elekid shot the electric shock out from its antennae like a tiny shock dart. The attack connected, making the muscles in Soul's body contract and expand against his will, leaving him numb afterwards.

"Now another Thunder Punch!" Elekid's attack struck, a burst of electricity sparking out from the point of impact. Soul's body became rigid from the impact of the electricity being driven directly into his stomach while his body involuntarily twitched. He glared at Elekid as it geared up for another Thunder Punch, deciding then and there that he did NOT like Electric-types.

"Roll to dodge, then trip him up," Grey ordered. Soul obeyed, rolling to the side just in time as Thunder Punch went straight over his head. As Elekid dodged, Soul lashed his tail out like a whip at Elekid's legs, sending it falling on its face.

"Close range Ember, then Metal Claw attack!"

Soul blasted an Ember straight into Elekid's back to tenderize it then slammed his steel-hard claws into the same spot. Elekid screamed out in pain and threw Soul off with a charged fist before launching another Thundershock.

"Ember!" Grey shouted. Soul launched yet another fireball which met the volatile, needle-like dart in the middle of the field and exploded with a loud bang and a large plume of black smoke. "Again!" The last fireball blasted out of the smoke and into Elekid's face once more, knocking the baby Pokémon unconscious.

"Elekid is unable to battle," Juniper laughed. "Charmander wins!"

"Another win!" Grey cheered, letting Lucy out of her ball to congratulate her. He hugged the Buizel and Soul together in congratulations until Rachel's laugh was heard from behind.

"Aww, so cute," she teased. Mudkip and Vulpix trailed behind her, each with an apple in their mouths while she carried a shopping bag from the mart. "She warm up to you yet?"

"Almost," Grey said, still grinning, even as Lucy chomped down on his wrist yet again. Soul danced on the spot, fangs bared in a grin as he punched the air. All the while, Juniper was noting their actions on her clipboard. Rachel stared at the motley crew with apprehension.

"Hey, I forgot; Rae, this is Juniper, the girl we were sent to find. She's gonna be traveling with us from now on," Grey introduced. Juniper looked up from her clipboard and waved warmly at Rachel before going back to her scribbling.

"Oh, just perfect; another crazy person," Rachel sighed exasperatedly. "Mudkip, Vulpix, why do we always get the crazies?"

"Vul-pix."

"Mu~d Mudkip."

"Then again, I guess Mudkip's not the very definition of normal either," the ranger sighed.

"Mud Mudkip. Kip, mud kip kip." _So many fights. Vulpix, can Mudkip fight too? _Mudkip asked the Fox Pokémon. Vulpix shrugged as best she could.

"Vulpix… Vul Vulpix vul, pix..."_ I don't know… Rachel doesn't like battles, so…_

"Mud… Mudkip!" _Oh…_ Mudkip said, slightly disappointedly. _Okay, then!_

"Well," Grey said, suddenly standing up and dusting his pants off. "Rae, you get our supplies?"

"Mhm," Rachel nodded, shaking the bag in her hand. "We ready to go?"

"You bet," Grey nodded. "We just need to head through…" Grey trailed off. He started flipping through his guidebook to look for the next landmark, pressing his finger on the page when he found it. "Geo Path. That's just east of here; all we have to do is follow the river."

"We're making good progress, but don't you think we're pushing too fast?" Rachel asked warningly. Grey disregarded her; faster was better, right?

"No. I'm confident that we'll be in Knight City by tomorrow. A day and a half, tops," Grey said solidly. Slinging his bag over his shoulder and picking up Lucy and Soul to ride on his shoulders, Grey took a running start toward the northern exit of Wind Town.

"Wait!" Juniper shouted, hurriedly scribbling on her clipboard while struggling to keep up with Rachel's pace. "Don't you want to hang around Wind Town some more?!"

"Of course not! I'm going all the way and there's no time for the scenic route!" Grey grinned mancally. "Knight City or bust!"

And so was the beginning of a motley crew of characters brought together purely by the actions of a headstrong young boy, his Pokémon Ranger sister and a professor-in-training. It was a group so odd, it'd be considered impossible anywhere else.

* * *

"Oh, great. Just great!" a voice rang out, frustration layering his voice. A boy stood in the middle of the forest in Geo Path, a Scyther and Duskull standing loyally next to him. The boy had pale skin, black hair and brown eyes wearing a blue fleece jacket and jeans. The boy's name was Jameson Rhodes and, currently, he was up shit creek without a paddle.

Jameson threw the map in his hands on the ground in anger. This was the fifth time he'd gotten lost in this infernal forest and it was driving him crazy.

"Aaaugh!" Jameson screamed into the sky while he pulled out his hair. His Scyther, Sniper and his Duskull, Shishi, stared at him with raised brows. "I hate this! We've been in here all day and we still haven't found our way out! Why can't I find my way out?!"

"Scy. Scyther Scy," Sniper said pointing to the map. Jameson looked at the infernal piece of paper again, realizing that, upon closer inspection, he was holding the map upside down. Jameson blinked in embarrassment before clearing his throat and picking the map up again.

"Right… Well… Thanks, Sniper. Now let's get going to Knight City," he said sheepishly. Sniper laughed his head off at his trainer while his Duskull companion just smacked his masked face in embarrassment. Having a directionally challenged trainer was extremely frustrating.

* * *

**Tada~! Chapter 4, up and running. So, Grey makes his first capture, Juniper's sent *cough*forced*cough* to travel with Grey and Rachel and Mudkip expresses some interest in battling. More to come.**

**As I said before, Grey's incredibly headstrong and rushes into things. Will this be a detriment to him in the future or a blessing?**

**Looks like we've got a war going on between Sea Weasel and Lizard Pokémon. Who will come out of this alive? Only one answer: MORTAL KOMBAT -- er, POKEMON BATTLE!**

**And, introducing the last new character for what may be a while, Jameson Rhodes who belongs to Shadow Minamoto. Thanks for the submission, dude.**

**Keep on the lookout for the next chapter, coming to a site near you.**


	5. Knight City and Bust

I figured I waited long enough to post this chapter. Gotta warn you, though. Grey gets WORKED in this chapter. Enjoy, all :D

**Disclaimer: **I _**DO NOT **_own the Pokémon franchise in any way. I do own New Super Mario Bros. Wii, thought. Blue Toad's going down hard, bitches!

* * *

**Chapter Five: **Knight City and Bust

Geo Path. The slightly mountainous, wooded area north of Wind Town, a town Grey had spent very little time in. The forest, as was everywhere else, inhabited by Pokémon, mostly of the Bug, Grass, Ground, Rock and Flying-type. It was here where Jameson Rhodes had gotten himself hopelessly lost and also where Grey's party was currently located. They had set up a makeshift camp with a fire in the center and their sleeping bags - which they had bought in Wind Town as well as a large bag after Rachel dragged Grey back to get it - set all around it on the dusty ground.

The first golden rays of sunlight light filtered in through the treetops and the bird Pokémon sang in welcome of the morning. Grey's eyes twitched as the warm light hit them and he groaned. Was It morning already? The nights always seemed to go so fast for him, so he never felt fully awake until the afternoon. The tanned boy sat upright in his sleeping bag, scratched his stomach and yawned loudly. Next to him, Soul woke up, his tail flame growing twice its size with his waking as Lucy still stayed asleep.

"Mornin' partner," Grey muttered sleepily. He dug into his jacket pocket for his glasses and slid them on his face. His vision improved three-fold and he began making his breakfast. In his haste to leave home, Grey'd forgotten about needing more food than he brought along, so Rachel's yesterday errand was to also get human food as well as Pokémon food. Being the proactive woman she was, the Pokémon Ranger had also bought cooking utensils, effectively spending more than half of Grey's funds. This also had the effect of leaving much later than Grey had hoped

"Cha~ar," Soul yawned, mimicking Grey by scratching his cream belly scales and digging into the new bag Rachel had bought for a slice of ham. Soul folded the meat in half and speared it on his claws in order to roast it over his tail flame. His mouth almost watered as the smell of cooking meat reached his nose.

"Soul, would you mind using Ember to light this for me?" Grey asked, pointing to the dead fire of the night before. Soul nodded and spat out a small fireball which set the sticks and leaves alight with flame. Grey placed a tripod above the flames and put a frying pan on top of that to start cooking eggs in. "I wonder how these things didn't break with all the times Rachel fell flat on her face on the way here," Grey voiced aloud.

Next, Rachel and her Pokémon woke up, followed by June and Rosewood. From out of the trees, a Grovyle jumped down with crossed arms and a bored expression on its face. This Grovyle was named Sylva, and belonged to June. Amelia had given Sylva to her daughter as a young Treecko.

"Good morning, Rosewood; Sylva," June muttered, her bright red hair in a messy bun as she rubbed sleep out of her eyes.

"Gro." _Yo,_ Sylva grunted. The Grovyle stretched her legs out as Rosewood snaked her way up towards her owner's neck, situating her five-foot body around it like a living fur boa. Juniper sniffed the air and turned her head towards the source of the smell of cooking ham.

"Smells good, Grey," she commented drowsily. "Be sure to make enough for all of us, okay?" Grey grunted something unintelligible through his morning fatigue, but June took it as an acknowledgement. She got up and began pouring Pokémon food into each Pokémon's bowl, pausing only to add crushed berries on top.

"Hah, good luck," Rachel said as she washed her face with a basin filled by Mudkip's Water Gun. "When Grey makes food, he only makes it for himself. It's why Soul's currently roasting ham and bread on his tail." Being a ranger, Rachel was used to getting up early and getting ready quickly. Also due to the same reason, she was used to doing all of this around other people and not feeling any shame whatsoever. She peeled her nightshirt off and rummaged through her bag for her uniform, proving that old habits die hard.

"Put a shirt on," Grey grunted through a mouthful of breakfast. He swallowed loudly and bluntly added, "Nobody here wants to see your boobs." Soul laughed, revealing a mouthful of a curious color combination of roasted ham and Oran berry.

"Oh, shut up, you immature little punk," Rachel shot back, slipping her black shirt on and moving to put on the red and yellow jacket that went with her uniform. "You act like you've never seen my bra before."

"Hey, that camping trip when I was thirteen didn't count. We were on a school assignment anyway," Grey said, not looking up from his Pecha berry juice and breakfast sandwich. Juniper watched, an innocently curious look on her face. She tilted her head to the side and asked,

"So, this isn't the first time she's done this?" The Thomas siblings shook their heads 'no.'

"Whenever we had to go on missions back at the Ranger School, I'd be leader of Grey's squad. First time I did this, he blushed as red as a Tomato berry," Rachel laughed. Grey's cheeks took on a pink tinge.

"Well, what'd you expect?! And Farina was there, too, so don't flatter yourself!" he cried. "Stupid girl and her stupid chest…and stupid hormones…" Juniper's eyes widened in shock and her mouth formed a perfect 'o' as realization dawned upon her. Could it seriously be…?

"Incest?" she asked obliviously. This time, both siblings' faces tinged red, but with anger.

"NO!" they shouted in unison, almost making the redhead researcher fall over and crush Rosewood. Realizing her mistake, Juniper put a hand to her mouth apologetically.

"Sorry," she peeped.

"It's okay, just don't jump to that conclusion again!" Rachel exclaimed. She had her shorts in hand and looked from Grey to Juniper before diving into her sleeping bag to put them on. Grey laughed despite what just happened, fully aware that June's words obviously had an effect.

Mudkip stood next to the bag with a half-eaten apple in his mouth and a confused, innocent look while Vulpix pawed at the bag, just as confused as the Mud Fish

"Man, it's gonna be fun having you around," the brunette boy grinned before chomping down on the last of breakfast and taking eggs off the frying pan to hand to June on a paper plate. "Here's to traveling," Grey said, still laughing. Juniper accepted the plate with a smile and dug in, offering some to Rosewood and Sylva. The Furret accepted the food gratefully but the Wood Gecko Pokémon declined, opting to take an apple from Grey's bag.

"Hey, Luce," Grey greeted his Buizel. Since yesterday, Lucy's opinion of her new trainer was still wary, so Grey's actions in the future would decide whether she took to him or now. However, she warmed up to him when Grey handed her a ham slice.

"Bui bui," Lucy said, grudgingly nuzzling his hand in thanks.

"Can you do me a favor and fill this basin with water?" Grey asked, showing Lucy the now empty basin Rachel had used. Lucy sighed. So far, she'd been made to battle against her will and now she was being used as his personal water pump. Grey wasn't exactly scoring brownie points with the Buizel. Despite this, Lucy readied a Water Gun and prepared to fire it just as a loud explosion was heard in the distance. Even from so far away, the blast shook the ground and startled everybody there, shattering the peaceful sleepy atmosphere that had been present before the thunderous noise. Lucy lost her footing and her Water Gun attack hit Grey full in the face instead of going into the basin. When the tremors stopped, everyone stood stock still, bracing themselves for a possible aftershock.

"Charmander?!" _What the hell?!_

Grey wiped the water off of his face as Lucy apologetically filled the basin. "Well," he began. "That's one version of an alarm clock. But just what the heck was that?"

"This place isn't known for earthquakes, is it, June?" Rachel asked as she straightened up to be tackle-hugged by Mudkip. Vulpix sashayed over to her owner and nuzzled up against her bare leg.

"No, never," Juniper replied, righting herself from her upside down position with help from the silent Sylva.

"Gro Grovyle." _Be more careful, _she advised. Juniper thanked her Grovyle and continued.

"Although… Since the League intervened in helping out the archipelago's ecosystem, they've been constructing paths trainers can use to get from town to town. I guess they're digging a tunnel in Geo Path now," the girl reasoned.

"Alright," Grey shrugged, not caring as long as he got to Knight City as fast as possible. "Seems fine to me. Get ready quick, though; we're leaving after breakfast." Grey turned away then to wash his face and brush his teeth. Juniper nodded and pulled her hair out of its bun. This would be a phenomenal chance to study how Pokémon and people worked together outside of training.

* * *

Deep within the extensive cave network of the mountainous Geo Path, workers - human and Pokémon alike - toiled to finish the shortcut into Knight City. One group dug at the rock wall with jackhammers, mechanized drills, pickaxes, and shovels. Another group was in charge of the explosives and erecting a protect barrier, a third in charge of debris clearing and the last controlled a team of Psychic-types such as Ralts and Kadabra to inform any passing Pokémon to steer clear of the area for their safety.

These men, women and their Pokémon were all drafted by the Pokémon League to dig a safe, effective path through the area separating Wind Town from Knight City after the decision to annex the Silver Ring archipelago as part of Kanto and Johto. So far, they were doing a fine job; after today, their job would be officially done. Every so often, there'd be a Geodude or a Zubat swarm the were startled and displaced by the blast, but the Pokémon didn't seem to mind too much. They were only so happy as not to run into any bigger Pokémon like Golbat or Rhydon. They weren't so sure that their Pokémon would be able to ward them off if they came out and rampaged.

"Okay, everyone!" the foreman shouted after the most recent detonation. She wiped sweat on her brow with a rag from her overalls pocket and scratched her blonde head before continuing. "It's break time! I want everyone back on the job in an hour, though, so use this time wisely!"

"Yes, Ms. Emily!" the workers chorused, thankful for the rest. Everyone temporarily dropped what they were doing and crowded around several picnic tables to eat and talk before getting back to the grind.

What the workers were joyously oblivious to was that the last explosion they caused had made their fears come true. Sleeping far, far, _far _beneath the surface, a rocky giant slept, angered beyond all belief that it had been woken up before a time of his preference. The giant tunneled rapidly towards the surface, its head popping up right next to a sleeping Graveller.

_Who woke me up?! What the hell was that?! _the behemoth asked indignantly. He wanted answers so he could punish the ignorant Pokémon that woke him. He was out for blood… Or at least to scare the crap out of them.

_Huh? What? …Oh, it's you. No, it's just the humans on the upper levels digging some kind of tunnel. Others like you have come and complained about it but, from what I hear, this is their last day,_ Graveller replied lazily. _Why not just go back to sleep, Maverick? _The behemoth shook his head vehemently, aiming for revenge.

_I think I'll go teach those insolent humans a lesson. Thanks for the tip, Graveller._ With that, the behemoth gave a devilish grin and dove into the ground as if it were water, searching for the sound of human activity in the caves. Graveller sighed. He knew he just helped a crazy giant Pokémon in terrorizing the humans but somehow, he just didn't care. He just closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

* * *

"Lucy, Water Gun it!" Grey commanded, his voice ringing through the rocky forest area.

Lucy obeyed the command, finding the action coming easier and easier to her, as she dodged a rock volleyed at her by a wild Geodude and retaliated with her own powerful stream of water. The Water-type attack was doubly effective on the Rock/Ground-type Geodude, who couldn't stand the agonizing pressure and fainted as an effect. Grey let out a cheer of congratulations to his Buizel, hugging her at the end of her fifth wild Pokémon battle. Lucy grudgingly hugged back but not before biting his arm again. Her reacting that way to Grey's touch was quickly becoming habitual.

"You're doing great, Lucy," the boy said, quickly becoming ignorant to the pain Lucy inflicted on him. "Getting stronger after every fight." And Grey was right. With every battle Lucy and Soul fought, they steadily grew stronger and stronger. The only thing that grew weaker was Lucy's animosity towards Grey, although she still hesitated slightly during battle and became angry at him for catching her in the first place. In short, Grey hadn't earned her respect yet.

"Bui bui," Lucy nodded as she followed the group as they started their convoy once more. Grey turned his head to Juniper's Pokémon, marveling at the Grovyle and Furret. It was to be expected; Grey was still a fairly new trainer and had never seen Pokémon like them before.

"So, what was it like when your Pokémon evolved for you, June?" he asked the girl.

"It felt great; knowing your Pokémon trusted you enough to evolve just for you. Evolution really is a symbol of the relationship between human and Pokémon and it's one of the things I study. I want to know if humans can accelerate a Pokémon's rate of evolution by befriending it," Juniper explained. "So far, looks like Lucy and Soul will be my prime test subjects."

"Test subjects?" Grey asked, tilting his head uncertainly. "You're not using Soul OR Lucy as test subjects and running all sorts of freaky experiments on them." Lucy almost felt touched that Grey defended her.

"No, no," June giggled lightly. "I meant watch wild Pokémon close to their evolution and then compare it to how your Pokémon evolve."

"Yeah, Grey. What'd you think she was going to do; hook them up to machines in tanks?" Rachel joked. Grey had a mental image of Soul in a tank full of some unidentifiable green goo, his tail flame wavering weakly. He shuddered visibly as he imagined Lucy in the same state.

"Either way, the thought's creepy," Grey said. "And neither Soul or Lucy would sit around and let that happen. They'd kick major ass before going down, right guys?"

"Char char!" _You bet! _Soul replied heartily, pumping his tiny fist.

"Bui!" _Yeah! _Lucy shadowboxed an invisible enemy to get her point across. One punch accidentally hit a Spearow that was hidden in the shadow of a boulder and the Bat Pokémon screeched loudly at Lucy before flying off. Soul put a paw to his mouth to try and stifle his laughter, but it proved to be futile. Lucy was thankful for her dark orange-brown fur at that moment because it hid her furious blush.

_Haha, you two are full of energy, huh? _Rosewood laughed at Grey's two Pokémon, who she affectionately named the 'young'uns'.

_Too much energy if you ask me, _Sylva put in, bored out of her green skull. _I don't like noisy kids._

_Kids?_ Soul asked with a raised brow-scale. _We're the same age! _Sylva scoffed conceitedly.

_Yeah, but I've evolved and you haven't, _the female Wood Gecko Pokémon pointed out, giving the 'younger' Soul a self-satisfied smirk. Knowing Grey would disapprove - even though he'd more likely laugh - Soul resisted the urge to get Sylva smack in the face with a fireball, instead expelling the flames through his nostrils.

"So," Rachel began, trying to start up a conversation and learn more about Knight City in the process, "what kinds of Pokémon does the Gym Leader from Knight City use?"

"Ground-types," Juniper answered simply.

"I heard that most Gym Leaders use only one type of Pokémon in order to familiarize themselves with that type," Rachel said thoughtfully. "Grey, Soul'll have some trouble against the Ground-types the leader uses, right? I thought Fire-types had a weakness to Ground-type Pokémon."

"They do," Grey nodded. "But Soul will go out first to cause some damage and then I'll send Lucy in to finish them off. Plus, since most Ground-types are part Rock-type, Lucy will wipe the floor with them."

"Don't you think you need some sort of strategy against the leader's Pokémon?" Rachel suggested as Mudkip happily 'kipped' on top of her head. "I mean, I know Pokémon training's nothing like being a ranger, but you need to plan a fair bit for both jobs and not just rush in there blind."

"Your sister's right, Grey. If you run in there and lose too badly, you might lose some of the respect your Pokémon have for you," Juniper added wisely.

"Furret," Rosewood agreed, nodding sagely.

"No big deal, guys," Grey said confidently. "If worst comes to worst, I'll catch a Flying or Grass-type Pokémon to get an extra advantage." Lucy glanced at the trainer with a shocked look on her face. He was thinking of Pokémon as tools to be used! She knew she couldn't trust him.

"I don't like the way you said that, Grey," Rachel huffed. "That sounded like you only think of Pokémon as tools." Grey immediately corrected himself.

"Oh, no, no, I don't; really. But, if that's what it takes, I wouldn't mind having a Pokémon like that help me out," he said quickly, putting Rachel's suspicions to rest but not Lucy's. The Water-type glared at Grey, still fuming at his earlier comment.

It wasn't long before the makeshift caravan reached the entrance to the newly dug Geo Path Tunnel and entered its surprisingly lantern-lit depths with little trepidation in their hearts. The extra light Soul and Vulpix provided didn't go unappreciated, either. Suddenly, another explosion sent tremors down the entirety of the cave and most likely down the rocky slope they'd come from, making the ground unsteady and rocks from the cave ceiling as the group struggled to keep their balance.

"Another one?" Rachel groaned, rubbing her head where a rock hand landed on it. "Man, they don't need to use so many explosives."

"Here's wishing I was the one causing the explosion," Grey grinned crazily. "Right, Soul?" The Charmander growled happily, sharing his trainer's sentiments.

"You two really _are _crazy," Jasmine giggled. The ground rumbled again, the sound reverberating off the walls of the empty cave and making it sound even more ominous. In the dim light, Soul thought he saw the ground ahead of them ripple as if something were tunneling under it. The little lizard rubbed his eyes confusedly before deciding to ignore the phenomena and plod along faithfully next to Grey.

Back in the chamber where the construction workers were, they'd finally blasted through to the other side, the light from the outside world and the midmorning spilling in like mad. Several Zubat flew out of the opening in the cave in shock and fear followed by a multitude of Geodude and Graveller who wanted a taste of the outside air. Emily the construction foreman looked out at the work she and her team had done with pride, leaning on a shovel she stuck in the ground.

"Well, that's it people," Emily beamed. "All we have to do now is smooth out the arch in this thing and we can call it a day."

"Hey!" Grey called from the tunnel leading into the large chamber. "I didn't know there were people in here!" He, Rachel, Juniper and their Pokémon all followed after him, all thankful to finally be out of the caves. Emily turned to the newcomers confusedly. There was a sign outside that said construction would be done by today and that nobody should come into the caves. Did they even notice it?

"Uh, hi," Emily said. "There was a sign outside that said nobody should come into the caves until the construction was over today. Did you read it?" Grey and Soul laughed as Juniper and Rachel looked at them incredulously. Was there seriously a sign?!

"Yeah, we saw it. But I thought, since construction's gonna be over by today, why not just go in?" Grey reasoned. Sylva instantly made an opinion of Grey and his psycho Charmander: they were total idiots.

"We could've gotten killed during the last blast they set off, Grey!" Rachel shouted at him. Her words never even penetrated his head.

"Yeah, but we weren't killed, were we?" the boy countered smugly. "You think too much into these things, sis."

"And you don't think into things at all! You're gonna get us really hurt, Grey!"

"You're such a worrywart! Will you loosen up already?!"

"Guys, maybe you shouldn't fight in public," Juniper suggested shyly. Her voice didn't get through their shouting; now both siblings had their face in the other's and their shouting got even louder. The workers under Emily's command did their best not to laugh but it was proving to be difficult. In all honesty, their fighting was pretty funny; even Vulpix and Soul started to get into it.

"At least I have the decency to go somewhere else to get dressed in the mornings!" Grey shouted.

"You take that back, you…you…" Rachel stammered.

"Aha, got you there," Grey declared smugly.

"Vul vul Vulpix!" _Make him take it back! _Vulpix demanded.

"Char! Char Charmander!" Soul laughed, clutching his sides. _No! That was too funny!_

"Does this happen a lot?" Emily asked June uncertainly. "I get the feeling it does."

"I've only been with them for a day or so, so I couldn't tell you," the redhead sighed. She took a deep breath, causing Rosewood and Sylva to cover their ears before June screamed,

"GUYS!!!"

The girl's voice echoed and reverberated throughout the chamber as if her voice was the pinball and the chamber the machine.

Zubat flapped their wings and screeched in pain. Their over-developed ears unable to take the sheer volume of Juniper's voice. A Paras scuttled out from under its rock in fright before digging a hole to hide in and Graveller looked up from his nap before shrugging the scream off and going back to sleep. Soul and Lucy staggered, swirls in their eyes and ears ringing, as did Vulpix. Mudkip seemed unaffected and clapped for June to scream again, in fact; only Rosewood and Sylva remained unaffected. Most importantly, Juniper's yell had the effect of shutting Grey and Rachel up, as well as scaring most of the workers and Emily.

"Nice set of pipes," Grey muttered dazedly while trying to clear out his ear with his finger.

"Thank you," June giggled innocently.

"Well, that's one way to do it," Emily said, adjusting her helmet. Suddenly, the ground began to shake violently, displacing everybody who stood upon it. The vibrations got stronger and stronger and louder and louder until everyone was forced to grab onto the nearest boulder or stalagmite for balance. The ground fissured and cracked open; stalagmites fell from the ceiling and broke as if they were glass and the seemingly infinite Zubat population screeched loudly with their Supersonic attacks cutting at everyone's ears as if they were knives.

"June, what'd you do?!" Grey shouted.

"I dunno! I didn't mean it," the girl pleaded. While all this was happening, the fin on Mudkip's head began to twitch slightly, alerting the young Pokémon to something underground that was getting closer and didn't seem too happy, judging by the ground shaking.

"Mudkip!" the young one shouted, attempting to warn Rachel of the impending danger, but his cries were misunderstood as cries of fear.

The ground burst open as a giant, snakelike Pokémon breached it like a Wailmer breaches the sea and sent debris flying in every direction. The Pokémon was large and its grayish-white body seemed to be made of boulders of various sizes culminating in a head with a large, rocky horn protruding from the top. The Onix roared in pure, undiluted rage, throwing its tail around like a massive whip, crashing it into the walls of the cave and causing rocks to rain down. Still in shock, Grey produced his Pokédex and pointed the black device at the Onix.

**Onix, the Rock Snake Pokémon. These massive Rock and Ground-types are able to tunnel underground at an astonishing 50mph. Their rock-hard heads and bodies are the only things protecting them from the tremors they cause. Onix are generally aggressive Pokémon, attacking at the slightest provocation. Onix's bodies give them a remarkable defense against conventional attacks and are able to regenerate any lost parts by eating boulders and soil.**

**Gender: Male**

"Oops," Juniper peeped. "Did I do that?"

"Roooooooohn!" Onix roared furiously, slamming his tail dangerously close to where Grey stood. Luckily, he was able to jump out of the way of the cumbersome blow. Most of the workers had already abandoned ship, choosing to run out of the new opening to save themselves.

"Crap," Emily cursed. It really _was _hard to find good help these days. "I guess that last explosion was a bit too much."

"You think?!" Rachel screamed as she ran by and dodged a falling rock.

"No matter," Emily muttered, producing a Pokéball from her tool belt and tossed it into the air, shouting "Gligar, let's go!" The ball split open, releasing a purple bat-like Pokémon with a scorpion's tail and pincers and blue wing membrances in a blinding flash of white.

"Gli gli!" the Fly Scorpion Pokémon chimed, crossing its claws.

"Gligar! Dig, then go into Faint Attack!" Emily ordered expertly, arms crossed and a sternly focused look on her face.

Gligar nodded with its tongue lolling out of its mouth and scrabbled at the ground, rapidly digging a hole and tunneling underground. Onix noticed Gligar's actions and stood stock still, roaring at the ground in wait of the impending attack.

Gligar suddenly burst out from underground with its pincers glowing with a bright light and slammed them into Onix's midsection. The Rock Snake groaned in pain at the super-effective attack and glared in fury at Gligar as it faded out of sight and appeared behind Onix for a second attack.

"Oh, sweet," Grey marveled. "Wonder if I can get to be like that…"

"Gligar, now!" Emily commanded. However, Onix was prepared for Gligar this time. The stone behemoth whirled around with unexpected speed and crashed his heavy tail into Gligar, his Slam attack launching the Ground-type forward into the cave wall.

"Ouch…" Grey muttered as Gligar cracked the wall on impact. Snapping out of his gawking state, Grey turned to Lucy and Soul, ready to battle.

"Right, let's hit 'em hard. Lucy, soften him up with your Water Gun then slam him with Metal Claw, Soul!"

"Char!" Soul grunted, flexing his claws as they glowed a metallic silver. Lucy, however, was not so compliant. She crossed her arms and huffed angrily, turning her back on Grey.

"Wh-what?" Grey stammered. "Lucy what's wrong?"

"Bui! Bui bui!" _You only think of Pokémon as tools! _was what Grey picked up through Lucy's aura of anger and indignation. Soul gave her an angry look, pointing his now normal claws at her for daring to accuse Grey of abusing Pokémon.

"What? No, I don't!" Grey shouted. "Come on, we have to help everyone!"

"Bui!"

"Lucy!"

"Damn it, Grey, quit fooling around!" Rachel shouted after ordering Mudkip to launch a Mud Slap attack in Onix's eyes. Mudkip was only too happy to oblige, following up with a Water Gun attack as Juniper ordered Sylva to get into the fray as well.

The three leaves on Sylva's arms glowed and merged into one large blade of Grass-type energy. She pushed her powerful legs against the ground and slashed the blade straight across Onix's midsection and left a large cut in the rock.

"Great, Sylva! Now, Rosewood, Iron Tail!" Juniper called. Rosewood hardened her tail with rock-hard steel energy and rose to slam Onix with the third super-effective hit in the row. Onix countered the move by slamming his tail into the ground and dragging it forward, sending a rain of rocks into the path of Rosewood's Iron Tail.

Iron Tail shattered the boulder and the Long Body Pokémon landed with an annoyed look as rock fragments and dust fell into her fur. She didn't mind battles, but now her fur was dirty and that didn't sit well with her at all. So, in retaliation, she loosed a powerful Hyper Voice attack. The attack used the cave's acoustics to bounce off the walls like crazy, multiplying its power every time. However, it didn't do too much damage due to Onix's type advantage and instead caused damage to every other Pokémon present.

Grey sighed angrily as Lucy again refused his pleas to help fight Onix, calling him an abusive trainer, from what he could gather. He didn't have time for this now; there was a fight to settle.

"Fine, Lucy. Just get back into the ball, then," he growled, calling Lucy back into her Pokéball with a flash of red. He turned to Soul with a sad smile on his face.

"You're willing to help, right, pal?" he asked. Soul grinned loyally and turned his claws back into tiny, metal daggers. "Thanks. Now hit him hard!"

Soul let out a battle-cry and slashed his claws across Onix's face after it was sent down by a retaliatory Faint Attack from Emily's Gligar. The enraged Onix shot up like an arrow, used his tail to slam the offending Pokémon away and roared a deafening roar, scaring all them back into their Pokéballs. Onix roared again, slithering out of the opening towards Knight City and diving into the ground again to escape.

"Nice Roar," June blinked, blowing a strand of hair out of her face.

"Could rival your voice," Rachel laughed. "Is everybody okay?"

"Aside from a shattered eardrum, just fine," Grey scowled as he somberly stared at Lucy's Pokéball.

"What's wrong, Grey?" June asked, placing a hand on the trainer's shoulder. Soul popped out of his ball and looked at Grey with concern swimming in his blue eyes.

"Char char?" Soul squeaked concernedly, tugging at Grey's pant leg.

"It's nothing," Grey said distantly. He was completely focused on the Pokéball in his hand and, even now, he could feel Lucy's anger seep through it. It felt like something had hit him in the stomach. "What'd I do?" he muttered.

"Well, come on," Rachel said, sensing her brother's uneasiness. "Let's go. Knight City or bust, right?" Grey pocketed Lucy's Pokéball silently and walked out the exit, Soul loyally behind him as usual.

"Wait! Grey!" Rachel called after him, scooping up Vulpix as she ran.

"Oh, um…" Juniper stammered. She turned to Emily and bowed respectfully. "Sorry for all the trouble!" she said quickly before running after the Thomas siblings, thus leaving Emily in the cave by herself, leaning on her shovel and scratching her head.

--

Grey stood near the edge of the mountain path overlooking Knight City. The location of the first Gym was much larger than Wind Town and Seabreeze Village put together, but still relatively small for a city. Some of the buildings were still in construction, but the majority were heavily urban or suburban in style. The plains west of the city were all farmland which was where Grey reasoned most of the food came from. The path Grey was currently standing on led into the eastern entrance of Knight City.

However, Grey was barely focused on the city at the moment because all his attention was focused on his inexplicably angry Buizel. Grey couldn't help but pore over why Lucy'd act that way towards him. Was it something he said or did?

_Hey, don't worry, _Soul said uneasily. He was honestly trying to calm the storm in Grey's head, but since Grey could only understand a bit of what he said, it proved to be difficult. Soul hated this; he desperately wished he could do more. Why couldn't Pokémon speak human?!

"Thanks, Soul. But this is something words can't fix. We have to show Lucy we aren't like she makes us out to be. Either way, let's get to the Gym, okay? We'll take the Gym Leader down first and then take care of this later," Grey said confidently. Soul nodded and clenched his fist in agreement. Losing their first Gym Challenge was not an option.

* * *

"Alright, Grey. Everybody's all healed up," the Knight City Nurse Joy said the next day with the Joy family's trademark smile. She handed Grey the Pokéball tray before bidding him goodbye and taking care of the next trainer in line. Grey released Soul and Lucy from their Pokéballs just as Rachel and June walked up with their Pokémon.

"So, ready for your first Gym Battle, bro?" Rachel asked, Mudkip and Vulpix cradled in her arms. "I still say you should train a bit first."

"Eh, what do you know about Pokémon training, anyway?" Grey said cockily. "It's a cinch; all I have to do is think on the fly and the badge is mine."

"Char char!" Soul chimed in agreement as Lucy stared ahead with an angry scowl.

"Are you sure that's all you have to do?" Juniper asked uncertainly. "Gym Leaders aren't like ordinary trainers, you know. And, from what you've told me, you've only ever battled two trainers at your skill level. You might need to train a lot harder until you're ready to challenge a Gym."

"Well, when you put it that way…" Grey began. "Bah! Who cares about all that. Pokémon battling is about heart and I definitely have more heart than any fool Gym Leader!" Juniper and Rachel's faces both fell like a heap of lead.

"Is he always like this?" the redhead asked the rosette. "Rushing into things before coming up with a plan, I mean."

"I thought you woulda caught on by now. He's got a skull thicker than a Rhyhorn's," Rachel deadpanned.

"Mud Mudkip!" the youngest Pokémon chirped happily.

_Soul, you sure this is going to work? I mean, you don't even know which Pokémon the Gym Leader here uses, _Vulpix said uneasily.

_She's right. You could really get worked out there, _Sylva added coolly.

_Or worse, your scales could get dirty! _Rosewood shouted disgustedly._ Mud would get caked all over and get in the spaces between scales… _The Long Body Pokémon shuddered at the very thought of Soul's immaculate red-orange scales being dirtied. It sent chills up her spine to envision the sight.

_What's a fight without a couple of risks, anyway? _the young Lizard Pokémon countered. _We'll kick ass no matter who we're up against!_

"Soul's right," Grey said, clenching his fist in confidence. He pounded said fist into his open hand and charged right out of the Pokémon Centre leaving Rachel and June in the dust with both his Pokémon following.

Soul wanted to be there to fight beside his trainer and Lucy wanted to see him crash in burn out of spite. In her fuming anger, the Sea Weasel Pokémon forgot that if Grey crashed and burned, she'd go down with him.

Grey burst through the doors of the Knight City Gym just in time to see a boy's Pidgeotto get knocked out of the sky by a Gligar's Faint Attack and fall into unconsciousness.

"Pidgeotto is unable to battle!" the short, black haired referee decreed. "Therefore, Gligar is the winner and the match goes to Emily of Knight City's Pokémon Gym!" The ref held up a red flag in the direction of the Gym Leader whom Grey recognized immediately.

Even though she now wore jeans shorts and a white hoodie stained with dirt while keeping her hair in a long braid, Grey knew who she was. As the defeated trainer walked away with his head hung in shame, Grey called out,

"Hey, you're that girl from yesterday! In the caves!" Emily laughed as Gligar glided back to her side.

"Yep. But we never really caught each other's names," she said cheekily. "I'm Emily, Gym Leader of Knight City and a junior construction foreman. Who would you be?"

"Name's Grey Thomas from Puel Town. Never thought I'd meet the Gym Leader without knowing who she was," Grey said sheepishly. "I heard you use Ground-types." Emily nodded, eyes full of self-assurance.

"Yeah. Now are you going to just sit there talking to me or are we going to start the battle? Hope you're better than the last punk; he only brought one Pokémon with him." Grey could immediately tell that this girl's self-esteem shot through the roof and then some. That, and she loved to show it as much as she could. He figured this'd be an easy win against someone with an ego as big as hers, but he forgot about how well Emily had battled against the wild Onix from yesterday.

"Let's get it started then. Hope you aren't too tired from your earlier match," Grey taunted, picking Soul's ball up first. Normally, Soul wouldn't be inside his Pokéball and would just jump right into battle but, this time, the Charmander knew this was a big event and wanted to make a good entrance.

Emily turned to the ref who sighed exasperatedly. He desperately wished that Emily wasn't so impatient with these Gym battles, but he couldn't change it.

"The Gym battle between the challenger, Grey Thomas of Puel Town and Emily Vega of Knight City will now commence. Each trainer will fight until all of one side's Pokémon are unable to battle. There will be no time limit or limit on the number of Pokémon used," the referee recited. "Are both sides ready?"

"You bet, ref," Emily said cheekily.

"Get on with it!" Grey shouted impatiently, gripping Soul's Pokéball tightly.

"Okay, then. Trainers, please choose your first Pokémon." the ref said.

"Soul, let's go wild!" Grey shouted eagerly, tossing the sphere into the air before the Charmander appeared in midair and landed with a light thud.

"Charmander!" _Let's do this! _The fire breather was just as eager as his trainer; it was shown all over his face and in the way he flexed his claws. The flame on the tip of his tail burned bright, showing he was ready for battle.

"Gligar, let's show them how it's done," Emily said coolly, her entire demeanor changing in an instant. Grey had no idea what was in store for him.

"Gli-gar!" the Fly Scorpion shouted in agreement as he glided onto the field with an evil grin on its face.

"Gligar vs. Charmander! Let the battle begin!" the ref shouted, the flags in his hands rising like corks shout of a bottle.

"Let's start things off with a bang," Emily said with a calculating edge in her voice that definitely wasn't there earlier. "Quick Attack at full power!" The command was heard and executed without a single moment of hesitation. One moment, Gligar stood on its end of the field and the next, a white blur of light was left behind it as it brutally slammed its one-hundred-plus pound body into Soul's much lighter one. The Charmander bounced across the ground as dirt clung to his scales with every impact, realizing Rosewood's worst fear.

Grey felt as if he'd been hit with that Quick Attack himself; he might as well have been because the shock on his face could've accompanied a blow like that. "Soul, you okay, buddy?!" he shouted in a mix of surprise and concern. He'd never seen the attack coming, Gligar was so fast. For a moment, he thought he might've been in over his head. Emily was battling just as she was yesterday: with a cool, level head and a bag full of tricks.

"Ch-cha~ar…" Soul muttered through the pain as he staggered back up. He wobbled a bit, his vision still shaky after being hit so hard. So this was the power of a Gym Leader.

"Great, then go at it with Metal Claw. Don't let up until he falls!" Grey commanded. Soul did as ordered and ran at Gligar with full intent to slash his steel-hard claws into the opposing Ground-type's head.

"Jump and Faint Attack," Emily said clearly. Gligar nodded and bounded off the ground before it literally faded into the shadows like a specter just as Soul's glowing claws were about to connect.

"Stay calm, Soul. Just wait for it to come out and then counter with Ember," Grey said uneasily. Why was he uneasy in the first place? This battle was supposed to be a complete cakewalk. …Right? Now he wasn't so sure anymore. Now he wished that he had trained a bit more so he wouldn't look like such a novice and, more importantly, so Soul and Lucy wouldn't get hurt.

Soul's entire being tensed up like a coil as he anticipated Gligar's impending attack. His blue eyes scanned the entire battlefield, which was littered with rocks and stalagmites, for any sign of the Fly Scorpion's presence; a wing or maybe a flash of purple.

"Gligar isn't an 'it'. Gligar's a 'she'," Emily said amusedly. "If you want to quit now, I'll let you. This doesn't look to be going your way, kid."

"I'm not a kid," Grey growled, his focus leaving the battle for a split second. But that was all the time Emily needed to launch her attack.

"Now!" she cried, throwing her hand out as if controlling her Pokémon's moves through it. Gligar suddenly burst out from behind a nearby rock and slashed at Soul's stomach with her pincers, laughing the whole time through as the Lizard Pokémon fell to his knees for the second time.

Now, sweat was starting to form on Grey's brow. If he didn't do something soon, Soul was done for.

"Get it with Ember!" he bellowed desperately. Soul launched the projectile at Gligar's face and smirked as the attack met its mark before Grey's order for Scratch came. Soul charged while Gligar was still stunned and slashed his claws across her stomach as hard as he possibly could and was dumbstruck when he saw the attack did little to no damage at all.

"Char?!"

"What?!" Grey shouted.

"I'll admit Gligar's not an expert at taking special-based attacks like Ember. But when it comes to physical attacks, her speed and defense are second to none among my team," Emily stated. "Now, Gligar, finish it. Swords Dance then Dig."

"Gli_gar!_" Gligar spun around like she was caught in a tornado while executing intricate dance steps as her pincers glowed a bright blue color. Using her powered-up pincers to dig into the dirt, she was gone quick as a flash. Then, just as suddenly as she'd gone, Gligar exploded out of the ground and slammed both pincers into Soul's jaw, sending rocks and dirt clumps raining down on Grey.

Soul hit the ground hard and Grey winced, shocked at how the battle was turning out. He couldn't be losing now! Not after everything he said he'd do! He was going to be Almia's greatest challenger and when you say something like that, you _cannot_ lose this easily!

"Soul, please," Grey pleaded. "Get up; you have to!" But Soul wasn't going to get back up. His tail flame was weak now and it flickered every time he tried forcing himself back up. It was useless. Soul's head finally slumped against the ground as he slipped into unconsciousness, securing Gligar and Emily's win.

"Charmander is unable to battle!" the referee shouted, raising the red flag in his left hand towards Emily. "Gligar is the winner!"

"Nice work, Gligar," Emily congratulated as she gave her Pokémon a big hug.

"Gli gli!" the Ground-type said happily before shooting Grey a devious look.

"Take a nice long rest, okay?" Emily raised her Gligar's Pokéball and called her back in before taking another one off of her belt.

Grey walked onto the field, his body still numb from the shock of how easily he'd been beaten. He picked up Soul and cradled his oldest friend in his arms, digging around in his pocket for his Pokéball.

"Ch…Char?" _G…Grey?_ Soul asked, cracking one eye open weakly. Grey saw now how beaten up Soul was. Dirt clung to his scales like a magnet and his body was covered in bruises. Worst of all, Sou's tail flame wavered weakly; a sure sign that he was not fit to fight. Guilt welled up in Grey's chest like a geyser builds up pressure. How could he have let Soul get so utterly thrashed this badly?

"Go back to sleep, Soul," Grey muttered in a low voice. Soul didn't need to be told twice as his head slumped in Grey's arms. Grey recalled Soul into his ball before reaching for Lucy's and tossing it into the air. His former bravado from before the match started was now gone. "Lucy, come out."

"Bui!" Lucy shouted indignantly as she came out of her ball. The Buizel turned to Grey with a look of disdain on her face; how dare this human use her as just one of his tools? But her anger quickly ebbed away when she saw the look on Grey's face. It was set into a look of uncertainty and fear; fear for Lucy's safety. Wondering why, the Sea Weasel looked around and found herself on a battlefield of all places with another human holding up a Pokéball. This was a battle, Lucy deduced. And by the looks of it, one that was not going in Grey's favor, which was why he looked at Lucy with such concern.

"Rhyhorn, let's run them down!" Emily commanded as she lobbed the Pokéball in to the air. It split open with a shower of silver light and out of that light materialized a rhino-like Pokémon with a tough looking gray hide, four stubby but powerful legs and a single, menacing horn on its nose. Rhyhorn's beady red eyes stared down at Lucy with a brutish gaze as if it were ready to gore the puny Water-type on its horn. Judging by said horn, Rhyhorn was made out to be male.

"Lucy, I know you're mad at me," Grey began pleadingly. "But, please. Soul just got beaten up and I don't want the same to happen to you. Work with me here, okay?" The look in his eyes told Lucy he was sincere. She nodded tensely and turned back to Rhyhorn with a determined look on her burnt orange face. Grey relaxed considerably and pulled out his Pokédex to get a good read on Rhyhorn.

**Rhyhorn, the Spikes Pokémon. Rhyhorn are generally used for agricultural work, but are immensely powerful Pokémon. Their dense bulk allows them to tackle tractor trailers and send them flying or even level a house. Rhyhorn's horn is its most dangerous asset, as it can pierce a hole even through a steel sheet. However, even with all this power, Rhyhorn have horrible short-term memory and attention spans, only able to focus on one thing at a time. Sometimes this Pokémon will go on a rampage and forget why it began running in the first place.**

**Gender: Male**

Grey pocketed the Pokédex. He felt a bit more reassured that Rhyhorn looked to be a slow Pokémon and had many weaknesses, but he knew Emily had something up her sleeve and that made him feel ten times more uneasy. It was as if a stone weight had sunk into his stomach.

"Rhyhorn vs. Buizel," the ref stated with a steely voice. "Let the battle begin!"

"Lucy, start strong; get him with Water Gun!" Grey shouted. Lucy opened up her mouth and fired the blast of heavily pressurized water, aiming for Rhyhorn's face. The attack struck and the Spikes Pokémon let out a bellow of anger and pain before shaking it off and glaring at the Buizel with renewed fury.

"Let's use that anger, Rhyhorn," Emily said with a smirk. "Take Down!" Rhyhorn bellowed again and snorted loudly, digging his short limbs into the ground and pushing off with surprising speed and tremendous power that made the ground shake. Rhyhorn's linear path was easily dodged, however, as Lucy leaped out of the way right before she was hit.

"Aqua Jet!" Grey commanded, clenching his fists in worry. If he didn't boost his spirits up soon… He didn't want to think about it.

Lucy called a ring of water around her feet as usual and used it to cloak her as she spun her twin tails and sped her way towards Rhyhorn with a burning intent. Her attack hit and the water around her dispersed, crashing onto Emily's Pokémon and making him cry out in protest against the doubly-super-effective attack. But Rhyhorn just wouldn't go down, even after two Water-type attacks.

"Why won't it get knocked out already?" Grey said through clenched teeth.

"You really think I wouldn't train Rhyhorn to take Water-type attacks like a man?" Emily taunted. "Rock Blast, now!"

Rhyhorn grunted and dug into the ground with its powerful horn bringing a heavy boulder to the surface before head butting it and sending it rocketing towards Lucy. The Sea Weasel was able to dodge the first attack using her Quick Attack but Rhyhorn launched a second, larger rock out of the many littering the battlefield. The second rock crashed into Lucy with all the force and subtlety of a wrecking ball, the impact sending her higher into the sky where more three more rocks kept her in the air by juggling her. Rhyhorn took a sadistic pleasure each time Lucy cried out when a rock made contact and relished it especially when the Buizel hit the ground, kicking up a large cloud of dust.

"Lucy!" Grey shouted worriedly. He wrung his hands together wanting desperately to go out there and shield his Buizel from Rhyhorn's onslaught but found himself rooted to the ground in shock. He couldn't lose… not like this… Lucy already had some heavy bruises on her body from that last series of attacks. Grey'd officially lost his cool; there was no coming back from this.

"B-bui…" Lucy grunted, refusing to lose to this idiot of a Rhyhorn. She shakily got back to her feet and readied another Water Gun as Rhyhorn laughed a deep, throaty laugh.

_Give it up, Girlie. There's no way you're going to beat me; not with that puny body, _the Spikes Pokémon said derisively. Lucy angrily willed the behemoth to shut up but she knew she didn't have the power to back her anger. At least, not in this state.

"Rhyhorn," Emily began with a tone of finality. She was going to end this battle with one last attack, provided Grey was not smart enough to forfeit before the attack was launched. "Use Thunderbolt." Even before the command left Emily's lips, her Rhyhorn began to gather static electricity around its horn. Sparks began to dance around the horn like tiny fireflies, becoming more numerous with each passing second.

Grey's face immediately drained of all color. If an attack like that his Lucy how she was now… No! he thought, immediately putting his Pokémon's safety first. Lucy can't be hit by that! I can't let that happen to her! The words left him before they could be stopped:

"I forfeit!" he cried. Grey ran blindly onto the battlefield, stopping in front of Lucy and throwing his arms out in an attempt to shield her. Lucy's eyes widened in shock, even in her currently battered state. Did this… this _human_ just attempt to shield her with his own body? She'd been wrong about Grey, she realized. He was worthy of her respect.

"Call Rhyhorn off, please!" Emily nodded to her Pokémon, who grudgingly discharged the energy he collected into the ground.

"Challenger Grey has forfeited the match," the referee stated. "Therefore, Gym Leader Emily wins by default." Emily called Rhyhorn back into his Pokéball and said,

"You most likely rushed in here without a plan, didn't you?" Grey nodded in shame. "That was your first mistake. League rules say that if a trainer challenges a Gym and loses, he or she must wait a week before attempting to challenge said Gym again. Come back in a week and then show me what you've got." Emily's face immediately returned to the cocky visage Grey saw before the start of the battle. "Alright, Grey?"

Again, Grey nodded, picking up Lucy and turning to leave the Gym in silence. As soon as he was sure he was out of earshot, he whispered,

"I'll definitely come back in a week." Grey's face was now one of a mixture between hell-bent determination and defeat. "We'll be stronger. We won't lose like we did. Right, Lucy?"

"Bui," the Buizel nodded weakly. All of Lucy's earlier opinions about Grey immediately died when she looked up at him shielding her with his own body. This human cared about Pokémon and he showed it, intentionally or not.

* * *

**Phew! Man, I loved writing the Gym battle, even if Grey lost the way he did. It just goes to show: winging it is fine, but you have to have some kind of plan behind it if you don't want to get utterly destroyed.**

**Grey finally earned Lucy's full respect by recklessly charging in to block a potential 10,000 volts of electricity by a sadistic Rhyhorn. Not exactly the conventional way to do it, but it worked.**

**On a side note, how many of you would actually do what Grey did? I probably would.**

**Sadly, no appearance from Jameson this chapter, but he will becoming sooner or later. You'll just have to keep reading to find out. Next chapter should be up by tomorrow.**


	6. Going Medieval

This chapter and chapter 7 will come on the same day. Hope you like it; I shrugged off reading a book for this and that may screw me over in the future xD See if you get the joke in this chapter.

**Disclaimer: **I _**DO NOT**_ own the Pokémon franchise in any way. However, the little voice in my head that told me to burn things insists that I own the First National Bank of Canada. I think he might be right o.O

* * *

**Chapter Six: **Going Medieval Part 1

"He really took that loss hard, huh?" Juniper sighed as she stood on the sidelines while Grey trained with his Pokémon with a renewed vigor. "In a way, I feel sorry for him, but we _did _tell him to train more." She turned her head back down towards her clipboard, disappointed at the already extensive amount of notes she'd taken on Grey and his Pokémon so far. Her notes spanned three pages, but for Juniper, it was never enough. She still had a long way to go in her research on how human intervention affects the rate of Pokémon evolution.

"I know," Rachel replied as Soul leaped over a Sonic Boom attack from Lucy before dodging one of Sylva's Leaf Blade attacks. "But, that's who Grey is. He's stubborn and headstrong; how do you think I ended up in the Silver Ring in the first place?" The older Thomas sibling placed her head in her hands before continuing. "It sucks that it took a loss at the Gym to get him to see how much he was lacking, but, what are you going to do?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Juniper agreed. The redhead turned her attention to Lucy, noting how she accepted Grey's commands with much less hesitation and distaste as before. Grey'd already told Juniper about how he shielded Lucy from Rhyhorn's potential Thunderbolt attack and the girl deduced that his act of reckless concern must've been what captured the Buizel's respect. This was choice information and would be a great addition to her research notes.

On the other hand, there was Soul, who already shared a strong bond with Grey. Juniper had already taken an innumerable amount of notes on everything Grey and the Charmander had gone through together, but she still wasn't able to compare Soul's strength to any wild Charmander or any other Pokémon besides Rachel's Vulpix and her own, for that matter. No matter how interesting the personalities and strengths of the Thomas siblings' Fire-types were, June needed a lot more info if she wanted to satisfy her curiosity.

The good thing was, though, that Soul looked very close to his next level of strength. This was perfect; June could research everything already documented about the wild Pokémon of the Charmander species and compare her notes on Soul to them. The very thought made her giddy.

"Lucy, aim Sonic Boom at Soul; Soul, jump over it and slam with your tail!" Grey barked, his voice ringing out and fading into the mountains above Knight City where he was training. Soul flipped out of his showboating handstand and over Lucy's incoming Sonic Boom before aiming an axe-blow to the Sea Weasel's head.

"Aqua Jet shield!" Lucy gathered the water ring at her feet and made it swirl around her protectively just before Soul strike connected. There was a hiss of steam in the air as Soul hurriedly wiped water off of his tail before Grey came and healed the wound. "Nice timing, both of you. Especially you, Luce, and the shield technique we thought up."

"Bui bui!" Lucy said with a grin. She'd taken to Grey's praising her quite well.

"Soul, we need to be faster and more powerful. Next time we see that Gligar, it's going to pay for what it did, right?" Grey asked his partner with a manic grin.

"Charmander!" Soul replied with a mirror of his trainer's expression. The flame on his tail grew once more, signaling that Soul had gotten a little stronger. Counting this time, it was about the fourth time it had happened since Grey's defeat three days earlier. There were only four days left until he could challenge the Knight City Gym and Emily again and he was going to make the most of it by training, training and even more training.

Remembering what Dexter, as he decided to call his Pokédex, had said about a Charmander's tail flame, Grey picked up a leaf from the ground and tossed it onto Soul's fire. The flame immediately gobbled up the leaf, growing in size as it did so and fueling Soul's body at the same time.

"Don't want to strain you, bud," Grey muttered. Grey looked out at the expanse of rock and gravel of the nameless mountain he was stood on as his mind raced to come up with new ways to counter Emily's strategy. He had a couple of ideas on how to counter Rhyhorn especially, remembering almost every word of the Spikes Pokémon's Pokédex entry.

"Well," Rachel said suddenly, "I'm going back into town. Want me to bring anything back, Grey?" Rachel looked at her brother, careful to keep her thoughts from showing in her eyes. Grey had lost so badly the other day and yet he still insisted on going on. Why wouldn't he just give up and go home?

"Yeah…" Grey muttered, remembering something he'd watched on the Pokémon Channel back home. He pulled some money out of his wallet and handed it to his sister, saying, "Can you go to the Mart and bring back TM32 if they have it? I've got an idea on how to beat that Rhyhorn of hers."

"Alright then," Rachel shrugged, pocketing the money. She looked back at her brother to see his back was turned to her as he commanded Soul to use Scratch on a boulder while Lucy worked on her reflexes with Water Gun by shooting rocks thrown by him out of the sky. "Vulpix, Mudkip, let's go." She descended the mountain trail into Knight City with her Pokémon and found herself oddly hoping Grey would win.

"Okay, Soul, now go into Metal Claw," Grey said evenly as he watched what he hoped to be an effective strategy. Soul grunted as his claws made the glowing transition into Metal Claw and smiled as his silvery-steel fingers left deep grooves in the rock. Both Grey and Juniper made notes on Soul's power with this attack. "Let's see her stand up to something like Metal Claw," Grey smirked.

"You've gotten better, Grey," Jasmine commented, pointing to Soul with her pen. "Normally, Scratch wouldn't do any damage against a tough-skinned Gligar, but Metal Claw should to much more damage to it."

"Yeah, but I'm not using Soul against Gligar," Grey said. This put a look of confusion on Juniper's face.

"I thought you always started battles with Soul," she said naively.

"Normally, yes, and that's how our battle style..." Grey stopped in mid-sentence thinking about how the last two words he spoke rolled off the tongue. 'Battle style,'... He could use that. Every great trainer needed a battlecry, right? "Anyway... that's how it was for a while before I caught Lucy. Now I have two Pokémon and I'm going to catch more as I go along, so my battle skills have to evolve along with my Pokémon. If I stick with the same, dried out old system, I'll keep losing as badly as I did three days ago. You know what I mean?" Grey explained.

"Yeah, I guess so," Juniper nodded. "Do you still need Sylva's help?" she asked, referring to her Grovyle who was leaned up against a tree with her eyes closed.

"Definitely; I need to work on Soul's reflexes and train Lucy's speed up, anyway. I was thinking we could have her use Fury Cutter to test Soul and use Quick Attack to race Lucy," Grey suggested. He was really getting creative with these training sessions.

"Okay, then. Sylva, Fury Cutter on Soul!" June shouted, startling Grey with her loud voice.

"Dodge it!" he cried.

Juniper's Grovyle immediately leapt into action, her forearms glowing with a yellowish-green energy as she repeatedly swiped at Soul's body, head and feet trying to trip him up with each assault. Soul jumped, twisted and dodged each swipe of the Bug-type move showing that his training was well worth the time spent. As Soul flipped over a particularly close call, Grey made the call for action.

"Flare your tail up and slam her with it!" he grinned madly, knowing this method of attack would work.

Soul concentrated the energy from his inner fire into his tail flame and mirrored Grey's grin as it increased in size threefold. Soul then whirled around and brought the flame swiping across Sylva, engulfing her in the blaze. The Grass-type let out a pained shout at the feel of fire against her skin and jumped back before charging in with Quick Attack and sending Soul bouncing across the ground like a skipping stone.

"Sylva!" June admonished, shaking her pen at her Grovyle.

"Gro Grovyle-vyle!" _The little punk burned me!_ Sylva shouted back as she nursed her arm.

"Well, at least we know that works," Grey laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry about that, Sylva." He tossed June a Burn Heal so Sylva wouldn't be mad anymore and then turned to Lucy.

"Okay, Luce. We're going to work on your speed and reaction time so we'll be able to at least counter Gligar's. You think you're up for it?"

"Bui!" Lucy said enthusiastically, pumping her arms and cracking her tails together.

"Okay, then. Sylva, you mind coming over here so we can test this out? Those three days of prep better be worth it," Grey said, clenching and opening his fists. The Grovyle nodded slightly and took her place across from Lucy.

"Right," June began. "So, you're going to have them race, right?"

"Something like that," Grey said deviously. "When I give the order, Lucy and Sylva will use Quick Attack to race to that tree," Grey explained, pointing to the tree furthest from where they stood. "Then, once they reach that, they'll jump and use surrounding trees as springboards to go in and clash with each other."

"Oh, I get it now," Juniper said as she clapped her hands together. "Okay, then let's get started. Sylva!"

"Lucy!"

"Use Quick Attack!" they both shouted. Both Sea Weasel and Wood Gecko pushed off the ground hard with shouts of their names leaving white streaks of light trailing behind them. They rocketed towards the tree with Lucy trailing slightly behind the faster Sylva and sped up the vertical surface when they reached it, going at breakneck speeds. The two Pokémon finally flew above the treetops and seemed to float there for a moment before the order was given.

"Now, Lucy!" Grey shouted to his Buizel. "Aqua Jet into a tree and bounce off with Quick Attack!"

"Bui _bui!_" she shouted, spinning her propeller tails in a cloak of water and pushing off against the tree once her feet touched it with Quick Attack. Sylva did the same, speeding towards Lucy with her own Quick Attack and the two slammed into each other in midair with Lucy coming off a bit worse due to being a bit slower.

"Up the speed, Luce!" Grey called, cupping his hands around his mouth. An idea suddenly came to him: Lucy got much faster when it rained the first time he attempted to catch her. If Buizel get faster in the presence of water, then using Aqua Jet to counter Quick Attack would be much more effective. A feral grin spread across his face as he put his plan into action, hoping it'd work.

"Lucy, forget Quick Attack; go into Aqua Jet instead!" Lucy questioned Grey's judgement for all of a second before she spun her tails and transitioned from Quick Attack into Aqua Jet, her velocity increasing greatly due to the two speed attacks combining. The Buizel sped at Sylva like a watery arrow as she clashed once more with and knocked the Grovyle away like she was batting away a fly.

Again, Lucy pushed off against a tree with Quick Attack and went into an Aqua Jet, her improvised combination once again coming out on top. Grey immediately thanked whatever gods existed that his Buizel could act so quickly. This combination would definitely win against Emily and her Gligar.

"Char char! Charmander!" _All right! Go Lucy! _Soul shouted in congratulations to Lucy as she landed.

"Bui bui," the Water-type said sheepishly as she landed next to Sylva.

"Wow, Grey, that's amazing! How'd you think that up, anyway?" June asked. Her eyes shone with curiosity and her pen quivered above her clipboard, ready to write away.

"Buizel get faster when they're in the water, right?" Grey asked, unsure if he was right or not. "I just used that information and thought that Lucy would move faster if she were using Aqua Jet instead of a normal Quick Attack."

"No, that's only in the rain," June corrected. "But I guess you lucked out with combining two speed attacks to get faster."

"So what's Lucy's ability called anyway?"

"Swift Swim. All Pokémon have abilities that help them in battle. For example," she said, turning to Soul, "Charmander's ability is Blaze, which powers up their Fire-type attacks when they get tired."

"He can do that?" Grey asked, tilting his head.

_You can do that? _Lucy asked her teammate.

_Apparently, I can do that, _Soul shrugged.

"Yeah, he can do that," Juniper giggled. "You really have to learn a lot more, huh, Grey?"

"I guess so," Grey laughed.

"So, what are you going to do next? More training, right?" June asked. She put her hands and clipboard behind her back and tilted her head slightly as she looked at Grey.

"There's only four days until I can challenge Emily again. So, I'll train until the second to last day and rest on the last day," Grey counted on his fingers. "But, I still plan to catch one more Pokémon so I can at least last a bit longer. I've got a feeling she's got at least one more Pokémon up her sleeve."

"Charmander." _We'll win this time,_ Soul said assuredly. This time, he wasn't going to get destroyed like the last time.

"Buizeru. Bui bui!" Lucy added. She was so ready to wreak havoc on that brute of a Rhyhorn and get her revenge for that Rock Blast she suffered.

Grey shared his Pokémon's feelings. His eyes burned with determination and fury. Emily had shown him that his way of rushing blindly into battle was going to get him and his Pokémon hurt, but she'd also humiliated him. And Grey would not stand around and just let that happen without a fight.

"Well, you just keep at it, Mr. Challenger," Juniper giggled. "I'm heading back into town, okay? We need to stock up on supplies and since Rachel went off to make some money --"

"Wait, what? Since when did Rae start making money?" Grey cut in.

"She's a Pokémon Ranger, right? She accepted a bunch of jobs just two days ago around this area and she's been getting paid for them," June explained.

"That makes sense, I guess. Well, you go on ahead. The three of us will hang out here a bit longer," Grey said.

"Bui bui," _Bye-bye,_ Lucy waved goodbye to Juniper and Sylva as they headed back to Knight City.

"Alright, guys. Let's keep it up. It's target practice time: Soul, Ember! Lucy, Water Gun!" Soul commanded.

"Charmander!"

"Bui!"

* * *

"Okay, we're totally lost… Again," Jameson groaned.

"Scy~ther," Sniper sighed. The sad part was, the Bug-type was beginning to get used to being lost. It just came with the territory of being James's first Pokémon, he guessed. Shishi, however was not so patient. The Duskull groaned loudly whenever he could like a disgruntled old man and wanted nothing more than to just phase through the walls of the cave and get into the fresh air… If Ghost-types even had to breathe in the first place.

"Yeah, I know, Shishi," James said tiredly after one such ghostly moan. "We're lost and you want to leave. Do you have to be so conspicuous about it? Jeez, man…"

"Duskull!" Shishi countered angrily.

"Scy Scyther! Ther-scy!" Sniper hyperactively pointed a scythe at a small circle of light that looked to be the end of the cave, jumping up and down in excitement.

"Oh, no way! Nice job, Sniper!" James said happily, immediately dashing towards the light with Sniper frantically flapping his wings for speed behind him while Shishi floated above. James stopped just short of the cave opening to see that he was indeed headed towards Knight City. "Oh, thank God," Jameson breathed. "Looks like there was some construction work here a bit earlier, huh?"

Jameson looked around to see that the occasional shovel or shattered boulders were present and attested to the fact that this tunnel was dug recently. "Wonder when this tunnel was finished, anyway. Oh, well, it's not important."

James continued forward, happy that he was finally out of that dark, dank tunnel and out into the sunlight. When he didn't notice his Pokémon's presence behind him, he turned around to see Sniper fiddling with something thin and red that looked like a candlestick.

"Sniper, where'd you find that?" he asked unsurely.

"Scy," Sniper said simply, attempting to point at the ground with one scythe and hold onto the candlestick with the other. Shishi looked at the red candle curiously before doing anything. It didn't make sense for a candle to not be lit, right? So, with that logic, Shishi conjured up a Will-o-wisp and used the spectral blue flames to light the candle. The wick hissed angrily as it rapidly burned down to the base. James's eyes widened to dinner plates and he screamed,

"Dynamite!!!" He tackled his Scyther to the ground behind a boulder leaving a confused Shishi holding the dynamite. The explosive detonated with a loud blast of sound that reverberated all over the cave walls and left a black ring on the ground. Shishi stood at ground zero of the blast completely unaffected while Jameson and Sniper's ears rang like crazy.

"Shishi, don't ever light strange candles again, okay?" James said as he plunged his finger into his ear to try and get rid of the ringing.

"Dus-kull," the Requiem Pokémon shrugged.

"Let's just get out of here before something else happens. For all we know, that blast could've woken up something huge," James said, shakily getting to his feet.

Almost on cue, the ground began to viciously shake and rumble. As the rocks began to rain down, James cursed his horrible luck and wished he'd never opened his mouth. Then, out of the ground appeared an Onix who roared angrily and stared down the Scyther, Duskull and human standing before him.

"Oh, come on!" James screamed before he turned tail and ran out of the cave with his Pokémon in tow.

"Scy~!" Sniper screamed in fear, buzzing his wings to propel himself faster and away from the Onix. Onix followed them doggedly, raking his tail through the ground and sending a Rock Throw attack James's way. The large rocks landed a bit too close for comfort, almost falling onto the Mantis Pokémon's head. Onix roared again and coiled his body like a spring before launching his rocky skull forward like a javelin. James and his Pokémon got away just in time and Onix's Headbutt attack went wide and leveled a few surrounding trees, snapping them like toothpicks.

"Roooooooohn!" Onix called again, chasing after its prey with fervor. James didn't even look back before calling Sniper and Shishi back into their Pokéballs and hightailing it down the mountain with Onix in hot pursuit.

"Why does this always happen to me?!" the poor boy shouted.

Back on Grey's end of the mountain, he, Lucy and Soul stopped in the middle of their training when they heard Onix's roar accompanied by James's scream of terror.

"Char char?"

"Yeah, what the hell was that?" Grey wondered as he looked towards the path he took down the mountain. At once, he saw James hurriedly turn a corner from inside the trees and make a mad dash towards him just before Onix burst out from underground like a massive serpent spraying dirt and rocks all over the place. The Rock Snake Pokémon roared again, lowering his head and letting out an earsplitting Screech attack. The sound waves literally threw Jameson forward and he rolled down the hill, stopping at Grey's feet.

"What happened to you, man?" Grey asked, completely ignoring Onix's impending arrival. Jameson hurriedly got to his feet and screamed,

"That Onix! It came out of nowhere when I came through the cave!"

"Well, why didn't you fight it off?" Grey wondered. Onix furiously launched another Rock Throw barrage, causing Grey to tackle James out of its path while Soul danced out of the way and Lucy Aqua Jetted to avoid the boulders. Knowing none of his Pokémon could beat a Rock-type, James searched around frantically for something that could or at least a chance at escape. Noticing Lucy the Buizel, he shouted,

"You have a Water-type! Quick, beat that thing; catch it; something!" Grey's mouth split open in a wild grin at the concept of catching a Pokémon like Onix. If he caught that, his chances of beating Emily would skyrocket.

"Soul, Lucy! Time for some real battle training," Grey said deviously. Onix noticed the Buizel and Charmander on the ground before him and relished the opportunity to take his anger out on something. He coiled his body up once more and launched forward in another Headbutt.

"Both of you, jump!" Grey commanded. Grey's Pokémon jumped as Onix crashed his rock-hard skull into the ground, sending up large portions of the earth into the air as his attack missed the two Pokémon. The rocky behemoth turned around again and used Screech, the low pitched, rumbling sound waves of his voice rooting Soul and Lucy to the ground while they held their ears in pain. Next, Onix lunged out, true to its snake-like appearance, and wrapped himself around Soul, putting pressure on the little Charmander with every boulder-like section of his body. The Bind attack was slowly crushing Soul's bones, so Grey had to act fast to avoid any heavy damage.

"Lucy! Get him with your Water Gun!" Grey shouted, punching the air for emphasis. The Water Gun came with all the power of a fire hose and crashed into Onix's face. The water felt like weathering bullets of pain to the Rock/Ground-type as his body convulsed and caused him to release Soul. "Now, Soul! Ember attack!"

"Char_mander!"_ Soul roared. His tail flame flared up to twice its size and he flung a powerful ball of flames at Onix's midsection. Even with the type advantage, Onix were not known for their defense against special attacks as the burn was felt even through Onix's tough hide.

"Second round!" Grey called enthusiastically. His eyes glinted with a fervor that made Jameson think him a man possessed. Soul's tail flame grew again, this time turning a bright, white-hot color as his eyes flashed white.

The tiny salamander opened his mouth to reveal not an Ember forming in his mouth, but a raging ball of gold-orange flames that crackled with energy sparks threatening to explode with sheer power. When the power became too much for Soul to handle, he blasted the projectile out of his mouth and into Onix's massive body. Surprisingly, the Rock Snake roared out in agony. The ethereal flames licked at his body like it were tinder to feed their power.

"Sweet!" Grey shouted. He pulled out his Pokédex to gain more information on the attack.

**Dragon Rage, **the machine chimed. Dexter's mechanical voice seemed to carry some interest as it explained the attack. **A basic Dragon-type attack available to only a handful of Pokémon, including Charmander. This attack will deal a heavy amount of damage to the opposing party each time with rare variations in strength. Dragon Rage is executed through a concentration of the Pokémon's raw emotions mixed with energy from deep within the Pokémon's body.**

"You rock, Soul!" Grey laughed. Soul gave his trainer a thumbs up as his flame returned to normal size.

"You're good at this," James noted, having calmed down considerably.

"Thanks," Grey smiled. Onix took this time to attack while Grey's Pokémon weren't being given any orders. He used Headbutt once more to slam his skull into Soul and drive the Charmander into the ground. Grey cursed under his breath and turned to Lucy.

"Sonic Boom where Soul hit then full on Aqua Jet!"

"_Bui!_" Lucy cried as she produced small bursts out sound with her twin tails, watching as the crashed into Onix's injured spot. The Rock Snake grunted with annoyance at the Normal-type attack before grunting again in pain at the super-effective Aqua Jet he sustained thereafter.

"Now, Metal Claw," Grey called to Soul, who was currently pulling himself out of the small crater Onix created. The Charmander concentrated his power and turned his fingertips into sword-like silver claws. He jumped up and swiped at Onix's head but the raging behemoth dodged and used his head to slam Soul into the ground once more.

Having had enough, Onix swiped Soul and Lucy away with his tail and roared louder than ever before as his eyes and body took on a regal white glow. The glow around his body condensed into a large silvery ball of energy in front of Onix's mouth that he launched forward with all the power he could muster. The energy crashed into Soul's body, causing the Fire-type great pain. Soul grunted through the throbbing pain that covered every inch of his body which was now nearing its limit so many blows. Onix then used Slam attack to strike Lucy and launch her into a tree, causing it to splinter slightly with a sickening crack. Grey really hoped that wasn't Lucy's spine.

**AncientPower, **Dexter chimed once more. **An attack that uses an unexplained, primeval energy that is launched at the foe. This attack is confirmed to of the Rock-type. AncientPower may also have the effect of raising all of the user's abilities.**

_That explains why it hurt so much, _Soul grunted. At least he could take solace in the fact that Onix was hurting just as much as he was. The Rock Snake was breathing heavily and his posture sunk with fatigue after using AncientPower.

"Char char!" Soul panted, signaling Grey that this was their chance.

"Gotcha, Soul," Grey said as his pulled and empty Pokéball out of his pocket. He pressed the button in the middle, making it grow to four times its size and took aim.

"You're catching that thing?" James asked incredulously.

"Of course I am," Grey said cockily. James's opinion quickly formed: this kid was one cocky punk. "Now stand back; we need one more shot. Lucy, Water Gun!"

Lucy's Water Gun blast struck Onix square in the chest region with the force of a fire hose and the Rock Snake finally started to give. For all of Onix's power, he couldn't stand up to their combined power after taking so many super-effective attacks and keeled over with one last rumbling groan.

Onix tried to lift his head back up in vain but Soul was there in a flash to exact revenge and Metal Claw him across the face. Onix finally keeled over unconscious.

"Right there! Pokéball, capture on!" Grey shouted, his former ranger training coming into play for a second. Despite hating being a ranger, he liked how the battle cry sounded, deciding to use it from now on.

The Pokéball clunked against Onix's body with a hollow, metallic sound before engulfing the massive Rock Snake in red light. Onix was vacuumed into the Pokéball, which landed on the ground and shook twice before giving off a soft ping. Onix was officially caught.

"Oh yeah!" Grey said ecstatically. He ran up to the Pokéball and picked it up, wondering how such a small device was able to contain a giant Pokémon like Onix. "You guys were awesome out there," he said to Lucy and Soul.

"Charmander," Soul said tiredly but still managing to give Grey a thumbs up.

"Bu~i" Lucy panted as she rested her hands on her knees.

"Thanks for the save, man," James said. "But I pity you now that you have to deal with that monster of a Pokémon."

"It won't be a problem. I'm sure I'll be able to connect with Onix just fine, so don't worry about me," Grey replied confidently. James let out a silent groan. If he stuck around any longer, this kid would get on his nerves.

"Well, thanks again. Later," the boy in blue said waving at Grey over his shoulder and walking back down the mountain.

"Wonder what his problem was," Grey said obliviously. He shrugged it off and bent down to recall Lucy and Soul into their balls. He grinned happily at Onix's Pokéball and pocketed it. Now that Grey had a new Pokémon, his spirits were on cloud nine and he felt like there was no possible way he could lose to Emily a second time.

--

"You caught a new Pokémon? Already?" Rachel asked the next day in the plains land west of Knight City a few miles away from the farms. As usual, June was there and their Pokémon were all out of their balls, save for Grey's.

"Yeah; an Onix that came raging out of the tunnel we took to get here," Grey replied, getting the necessary equipment for this day's training.

"Oh, wow!" June exclaimed. "An Onix? You mean the same one we saw the other day?"

Rosewood's face scrunched up in disgust as she flashed back to the day her Iron Tail crushed Onix's Rock Throw and got her fur all covered in filth. Sylva saw the look on her face and laughed, immediately knowing what the Furret was thinking. The Grovyle had to admit: Rosewood had major entertainment value.

"I think so," Grey said. He dug out his Pokédex and Onix's ball, putting away the TM Rachel had bought for him the day before. After scanning the ball, Dexter announced the results of the data.

**Onix, the Rock Snake Pokémon.**

**Gender: Male**

**Known Attacks: Screech, Bind, Tackle, Harden, Slam, Dig, AncientPower, Rock Throw, Headbutt**

**Miscellaneous notes: This Onix was encountered before capture four (4) days ago**

"Well, that answers it," Grey said. "Man, that was one fun battle. Soul even learned Dragon Rage and I met this one kid. Didn't catch his name, but he seemed like kind of a downer."

"Dragon Rage, huh? I can't _wait _to compare notes on that," Juniper said with a glint in her eye.

"Okay, okay," Grey laughed. "You're a crazy person; we get it. But, first things first. I didn't give Onix a name yet."

"Why do you nickname your Pokémon?" Rachel asked. "I'm just fine with calling mine by their species names and they don't seem to mind."

"For me, it feels like the Pokémon takes to you better if you give it a name instead of just calling it 'Charmander' or 'Buizel'," Grey explained. "Besides, thinking up their names is fun." Rachel shrugged and didn't attempt to delve any further on the topic. It was one of those things she'd never understand about her brother.

"Okay, then," Grey said, having taken everything he needed out of his bag. There were only three days left until his rematch and he was going to have to work harder now with Onix on his team. He pulled the three Pokéballs out of his pockets and tossed them into the air where they exploded with large bursts of silver light. When the lights hit the ground, they formed into the three Pokémon Grey now had with him: Soul, his Charmander, Lucy his Buizel, and now Onix.

"Charmander," Soul yawned as he stretched out.

"Buizeru!" Lucy barked, immediately darting towards Grey's bag and taking out an apple.

"Rooooh…" Onix rumbled. He lowered his giant head so he could face Grey at eyelevel. So this was the human that had bested and captured him. Onix never normally doled out respect, but anyone who could train two pipsqueaks like that Charmander and Buizel to beat him deserved his praise.

"Hey, Onix. How's it going?" Grey asked the Rock Snake as if they'd been old friends. By comparison, Onix was much, much calmer than yesterday. He slithered around Grey's body, examining the tiny human under his gaze and Grey felt an aura of wisdom and power exude from the stone Pokémon. "You have a name yet?" Grey asked his newest capture. Onix nodded.

"How's he do that? Last time, Lucy hated his guts," Rachel muttered.

"I don't know, but it's really fascinating," June mumbled, scrawling down notes like mad.

"So, what is your name?" Grey asked as he rapped his knuckles on Onix's snout.

"Roh-nix." _Maverick, _the dual-type said simply. Grey picked it up and grinned broadly. The name was perfect for an Onix. His species were known to attack for no apparent reason and disrupt the relatively quiet lives of cave and mountain Pokémon. Onix were rule-breaking Pokémon and a name like Maverick suited them perfectly.

"Okay, so you're Maverick. Nice to meet you," Grey said. Grew was sure to show the Onix respect. He knew he should; Maverick could crush him in an instant if he said one wrong thing.

Maverick turned his gaze away from Grey and towards Soul and Lucy, who was munching on the apple she took from Grey's bag.

_That was a good fight yesterday, kid, _he said with a deep laugh. _I never expected to lose to a pipsqueak like you._

_Hey, I'm no pipsqueak! _Soul shouted at the Onix while readying a Metal Claw. Maverick scowled at this display of audacity and lifted his tail to show this impudent fire lizard some respect. _Oh, bring it on, old man,_ Soul challenged.

_Old man?! You'll pay for that, punk!_ Maverick rumbled.

_Will you two calm down already?! _Lucy shouted, spraying them both with water. _Man, at this rate, you'll kill each other off before our rematch._

"Muuuud," Mudkip gawked as he looked at Onix. Never in his life had he seen a Pokémon so huge. _Can I play on you? _the youngling asked.

_Mudkip, don't be rude, _Vulpix said, placing her paw on the Mud Fish Pokémon's head. _It's very nice to meet you, Mr. Maverick._

_Has she always been so polite? _Maverick asked, pleased that someone was finally showing him respect.

_From what I can remember, she's always been uptight, _Soul said offhandedly, earning himself a Confuse Ray from Vulpix. _Grey, why is there a giant pickle talking to a crazy water pixie mouse? _he slurred.

"Giant pickle?" Grey wondered. "The heck are you talking about?"

"Nice Confuse Ray, Vulpix," Rachel sang.

"Okay, Soul, snap of it," Grey laughed. "We've got some serious work to do." Grey took the TM from earlier out of his bag and placed it into a Teachy TV that came with Rachel's purchase. The disk spun and spun and spun, bringing up the image of a Rattata onscreen.

"_TM32. Please bring the Pokémon you wish to learn TM32 to the Teachy TV and press START," _the miniature television chimed.

"Lucy, come here," Grey said. Lucy padded over and stared curiously at the Teachy TV.

"Bui?" she asked, pointing to the screen.

"Just keep watching it. If we learn this in time, Rhyhorn's going down," Grey said. He clenched his fist and grinned at Lucy, assuring her that this would work. Lucy looked at him for a second before biting onto his wrist and nodding. Through the pain, Grey gave her the thumbs up.

---

Three days later, Grey stood in front of the Knight City Gym with a stone face. Juniper and Rachel stood behind him for moral support; he had his three Pokémon ready and a bag of tricks up his sleeve. He had June to thank for that. Grey shoved his hands in his pockets and went over his strategy one last time. If everything went his way, then the match would be his. If not, he'd have to wing it and hope for the best.

"Don't look so tense, bro," Rachel said soothingly. "If you're too focused, you may panic and start losing that focus. Then you'll lose just as badly as you did last time." Grey nodded and took a calming breath.

"I know. Thanks, sis," he said with a small smile. Grey was definitely not his usual, crazy self. He was calm, focused and extremely nervous. He didn't know if a week's worth of training would be enough to beat Emily his second time around, but he desperately hoped it would be.

"You'll be fine, Grey. You've trained for this for a long time now," June grinned.

"Only for a week… Maybe I should take another week off just to be sure," Grey muttered. He was thinking into things too much. Grey tended to do that whenever he was nervous.

"Well, if you lose, there's always Pokémon Ranger School," Rachel sang and wagged a finger. Grey scowled.

"Hey, shut up; I'm not giving in, remember?" he retorted. Just then, the doors of the Gym opened up and out walked the boy Grey had seen running away from Maverick. "Hey, it's you."

Jameson looked up from his hand to face Grey and Grey noticed he was holding a brown piece of metal in his hand. He reasoned it must be Knight City's Gym Badge.

"Huh? Oh, it's you." Jameson's face fell as he set eyes on Grey. This cocky punk again? "Yeah, I just won the Gym Badge. You going for it next?" Grey nodded tensely.

"Yeah. I'm going to win this time with Onix -- I mean, Maverick on my side," Grey grinned. There it was again, Jameson noted. That cocky smile Grey wore that suggested he was the greatest at everything. Suppressing a scoff, Jameson walked off.

"Well, good luck to you," he said over his shoulder.

"He didn't seem to like you all that much," Juniper noted. "Was it something you said?"

"I dunno," Grey shrugged. "But we've got bigger fish to fry. Come on!" Grey walked through the doors of the Gym to see the rough terrain of the battlefield and none other than Emily standing on the end of it.

"Well, well, well," she smirked. "Look who's back."

---

**And done! This chapter's going to be my first two-parter. I think that all my Gym Battles will be like that. It ups the suspense.**

**So, Grey caught an Onix and gained his respect by beating the ever-loving snot out of it. Guess he got lucky it wasn't anything like Lucy was or else he might've ended up in the hospital.**

**On a side note, it'll be a while until Grey catches his next Pokémon. Probably not until he gets to the third Gym town. I know new trainers tend to catch their Pokémon really quickly (Heaven knows Ash did in the first season) but I think giving him the next three Pokémon I have in mind for him at an early stage is extremely Mary Sue-ish.**

**Third Gym is also where things are going to get a lot fancier in terms of battles. It tends to do that in the anime and the games so why fix what's not broken?**

**Well, that's all the post-chapter notes for now. Read and review or else I send Maverick, Lucy and Soul to terrorize you! -- I mean, bake you cookies… Yeah, that's it…**


	7. Going Medieval part 2

**Chapter 7: **Going Medieval Part 2

Grey walked into the Knight City Gym for the second time in a week, this time with Juniper and Rachel in tow. This time, Grey was completely focused and he took everything in. He especially paid attention to the terrain of the battlefield and the stalagmites and boulders scattered across the mid-length grass Grey failed to notice his first time there. He'd have to use the terrain to his advantage some how. All in all, Grey felt good and he felt confident now that he had Maverick on his side.

"Well, look who's back," Emily called out. Her voice snapped Grey right out of his thoughts. "And you brought friends. Hope you brought some skill with you, too." Grey grit his teeth together.

"Of course I did. I'm not losing to you this time," Grey said. He smiled to himself, a plan forming in his head.

"If you say so," Emily shrugged with a playful demeanor.

"All non-combatants must please take a seat in the stands," the referee announced looking as haggard as ever and still holding his red and green flags. This was the second successive match Emily had had that day and he was really ready to take a break. He cursed whatever forces there were that gave the girl a seemingly unending amount of sarcasm and energy.

"Good luck, little bro," Rachel waved as she dragged Juniper over to the stands.

"Good luck," June echoed, waving like a child. Grey nodded and took his place in the challenger's area on the battlefield.

"Let's make this three on three," Grey said as he took a battle stance. The atmosphere instantly thickened and pressed its weight down on both challenger and Gym Leader, increasing their energies and making them itch for the start of the fight.

"Whatever's fine with you," Emily replied as she did the same. "Ref?" The referee took his place and started to recite the words he's most likely said countless times.

"This rematch between challenger Grey Thomas of Puel Town and Emily Vega of the Knight City Pokémon Gym will be a three on three Pokémon battle with both sides allowed to make substitutions. The match ends when all three of one trainer's Pokémon have been knocked out. Trainers, choose your first Pokémon."

"Gligar, let's show them how it's done!" Emily cried as she sent out Gligar.

Grey pulled a ball out of his pocket and enlarged it, staring down Emily with steely eyes. Gligar was an incredibly fast Pokémon, so he'd have to put it in a situation where its speed did it no favors. Grey had just the Pokémon for the job. As he lobbed the ball into the air, a phrase from his training as a ranger took over.

"Lucy, battle style!" The Pokéball split open and Lucy appeared in a flash of silver.

"Bui bui!" she barked, cracking her tails menacingly and narrowing her eyes.

"Gligar vs. Buizel. Let the battle begin!" the ref shouted, sending the flags at his sides down.

"We'll go first, Gligar," Emily said, switching into her serious mode. "Fury Cutter, and don't let up."

"Gli!" the Ground-type cackled as her claws glowed green. She pushed off the ground with her tail and flapped her wings, becoming a purple blur as she clicked her pincers threateningly.

"Lucy, dodge now and counter with Water Gun!" Grey shouted. He quickly lowered his voice, however. It wasn't the time to let the adrenaline rush carry him off. Forcing himself to focus, he watched as Lucy dodged three Fury Cutter swipes and retaliated with a powerful burst of water that struck Gligar hard in her back. "Yes," he hissed under his breath.

Lucy's speed was the perfect counter for Gligar. Emily might still be able to attack, but Lucy could parry the FlyScorpion's attacks just as fast. "Keep going, Lucy. Follow up with Sonic Boom!"

Lucy leapt into the air and cracked her tails twice. The miniature sound blasts she created careened towards Gligar with a killer intent but the Fly Scorpion got up and raced away, turning into a purple blur once more that stopped at Emily's side of the field.

"You've gotten better," Emily remarked. "But not good enough. Gligar, Faint Attack and make it hurt!" Gligar nodded before cackling and faded into the shadows like a cruel phantom. Appearing behind Lucy with her pincers outstretched and glowing with a dark purple aura, Gligar slashed her claws against Lucy's back simultaneously and then knocked the Sea Weasel away using her tail. Lucy straightened up from her beating in midair and waited for further commands from Grey.

"Water Gun once more," Grey said clearly. Lucy fired the blast of water out of her mouth with great force but Emily wasn't about to let the same trick work twice.

"Gligar, Sand Tomb!" she shouted. Gligar responded by pumping her wings once with immense power behind them, kicking up a small dust devil that absorbed the incoming attack. The Water Gun hit Gligar's counter, spiraling into the dust devil. Sand and water mixed and merged within the powerful winds of the Sand Tomb before eventually becoming mud and falling out of the air.

"Lucy, Quick Attack, now!" Lucy raced across the field, parting the grass with her speed with just one push off the ground leaving a white light trail behind her. Gligar jumped into the air with a beat of her wings and Emily gave the order to retaliate with her own Quick Attack. The Fly Scorpion Pokémon copied Lucy's attack aiming to actually land the attack, which was when Grey saw his chance. Going for a gamble, he decided to put Lucy's newest combo to work.

"Lucy, head for a stalagmite. Push off it and go into Aqua Jet!" he grinned. Lucy nodded with a grin of her own. Gligar was going down. Still using Quick Attack, she made a sharp turn to the right towards a stone spike jutting out of the ground and landed on it with her feet before she crashed headfirst. The Water-type pushed off the rocky feature leaving another white trail behind her before summoning a water cloak and spinning her tails like boat propellers and transitioning into Aqua Jet.

Gligar didn't have the time to dodge the sped-up Aqua Jet and cried out in pain as the water from Aqua Jet burst and crashed into her like a ton of bricks. Gligar fell to the ground just as Grey gave the order to strike with Sonic Boom.

"Get up and dodge!" Emily shouted. Gligar rolled out of the way just in time as the sound wave landed where her head was seconds before and shattered the surrounding grass.

"Fury Cutter attack!" This time, Gligar's strikes hit their mark, becoming stronger each time thanks to the nature of Fury Cutter. She ended her vicious combination of slashes with one final strike that sent Lucy reeling backwards, the grass ticking her back and feet.

"You alright, Lucy?" Grey asked concernedly.

"Bui." Lucy grunted an affirmative and shook off the impact of the attacks. Grey smirked in the back of his mind. His plan was working; against an opponent just as fast as she was, Gligar's advantage was gone and the playing field was leveled.

"Gligar, speed up and use Sand Tomb," Emily ordered. Her Gligar used Quick Attack to get into the air and glide just above the grass while sending multiple dust devils racing in Lucy's direction with every powerful beat of her wings. Gligar decided to show off a bit during her rush by executing flips in time with her attacks

"Keep up with her and Aqua Jet through them," Grey said. Lucy didn't need to be told twice as she sped after Gligar covered in her water cloak. As she burst through each Sand Tomb created and turned it into mud, she also managed to cut the grass behind her with her spinning tails, leaving a twisting, turning path in the foliage.

"Now, Gligar!" Emily shouted suddenly. As Grey's Buizel shot down the last Sand Tomb, Gligar rocketed forward with Quick Attack only to stop short of tackling Lucy and blasting a close range Sand Tomb into the Sea Weasel Pokémon. Lucy was now trapped inside the dust devil as tiny grains of sand cut into her skin with each passing second.

"She used Sand Tomb as a cover so she could get in close," June pointed out. "I wonder how Grey will get out of this one."

"If he gets out of it," Rachel said tensely. The Pokémon Ranger found herself watching this battle with keen interest while asking herself why she was in the first place.

"Crap!" Grey muttered. His temper was flaring and he forced himself to calm down before going on to think of a good counter to Sand Tomb.

"Gotcha now, kid," Emily taunted. Her Gligar pulled her bottom eyelid down and blew raspberries at Grey, adding further insult.

"Damn it, what can I do?" Grey muttered as he blocked out Emily's mental warfare. "That's it! Lucy, Aqua Jet shield!"

"Bu_~i!_" Lucy cried as she conjured up an Aqua Jet within the confines of Sand Tomb. As the water merged with the dirt, it fell around Lucy as a ring of mud. Grey could now see that Lucy had a few cuts on her body thanks to Fury Cutter and Sand Tomb, but it was nothing she couldn't handle. Grey was thankful that she at least didn't have any bruises.

"Water Gun!"

"Gligar, Dig!"

"Gli-_gar!_" Emily's Pokémon grunted as she dove into the ground as if it were water just as Lucy's attack sped by overhead. The Buizel stood stock still as she waited for the attack. She'd need to be on her guard if she wanted to counter at just the right moment.

Gligar suddenly burst out of the ground, pincers poised to slam into Lucy but the Sea Weasel Pokémon was too fast. Lucy jumped into the air just in time to fire a full-power Water Gun attack into Gligar's face. Gligar was forced down and pinned to the ground by the intensity of the water as it drained her strength with each gallon that was pumped into her body. Emily cursed under her breath and brought up Gligar's Pokéball to call her back but Grey still had an ace up his sleeve.

"Gligar, return!"

"As if we'd let you! Pursuit!" he commanded with a victorious smirk. Lucy's body took up a dark aura just as the red beam from the Pokéball hit Gligar's body. Right as Gligar herself became a mass of red energy, Lucy cracked her tails once more, sending the aura from her body crashing into Gligar and turning the Ground-type solid again. Emily's Pokémon fell to the ground, dazed and defeated, securing the first round win for Grey.

"Yes!" Juniper shouted. "He won! I knew he was going to win!" The red-head jumped up and down in her seat and cheered for Grey down below. Surprisingly, Rachel was cheering for her brother as well even though she disapproved of Pokémon battles.

"Yeah! Go, little bro! That was perfect! You and Lucy rocked!" Juniper turned her head to the side confusedly.

"But I thought you didn't like when Grey battled," she pointed out. Rachel rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

"I got carried away?" she said uncertainly. "Eheheh… anyway, let's just keep watching, shall we?"

"Gligar is unable to battle!" the ref said, filling Grey with a sense of accomplishment and elation as the ref rose the green flag in Grey's direction. "Buizel is the winner!"

"Yes!" Grey shouted and he punched the air.

"Bui! Bui bui!" Lucy said. She danced around on the spot, completely ignoring the fact that she was now almost completely out of breath from keeping up with Gligar. Emily smiled and returned Gligar to her ball.

"You did great out there, Gligar," she congratulated. Readying another Pokéball, she said, "Okay, so you upped your game and thought up a strategy. You're starting to learn."

"Thanks," Grey smiled. "Now, get on with it. I can't wait to see the look on your face when you lose."

"If you say so." Emily threw the ball into the ring with an underhand toss where it split open, releasing the Pokémon inside with a blinding light. "Let's go, Baltoy!" When the light died down, a small Pokémon stood on Emily's half of the field. It was a light yellow-brown color with pink designs on its stomach and over what looked to be its closed eyes. Baltoy had long arms but no hands or feet; instead its lower body ended in a point on which it teetered from side to side like a pendulum. Intrigued, Grey pulled out his Pokédex.

**Baltoy, the Clay Doll Pokémon. Baltoy are a desert-dwelling species that are a peculiar combination of the Ground and Psychic types. Baltoy are able to levitate and spin due to their psychic powers which they also use to attack, defend, or locate others of its kind. Baltoy are peculiar Pokémon in the fact that they do not need to eat to survive.**

"Will challenger Grey be continuing this battle with Buizel?" the referee asked, snapping Grey out of his thoughts.

"Huh? Oh, yeah," Grey muttered. He lifted up Lucy's Pokéball and pointed it at her. "Lucy, return." Lucy was struck by the light beam and sucked back into her Pokéball for a good rest. "Thanks for that, Luce. Now we've got a bit of an advantage out here." He turned to Emily and pulled Soul's Pokéball from his pocket, confident in his decision. He tossed it into the ring, shouting,

"Soul! Battle style!" The ball split open with a loud *pop!* sound and Soul materialized out of the light. His tail flame burned brightly, setting some stray blades of grass on fire, and he flexed his claws out of habit in anticipation of battle.

"Char!" he growled with a feral grin. Soul took a look at Baltoy and had to resist the urge to laugh. This was going to be a cakewalk.

"Soul, don't get overconfident. That's how we lost last time, remember?" Grey admonished after sensing Soul's feelings. Soul calmed down but still kept his grin plastered onto his face.

"Baltoy vs. Charmander!" the ref shouted, throwing his flags into the air to signal the start of battle. "Start the battle!"

"Soul, Ember attack!" Grey said, wanting to get the jump on Baltoy. Soul answered immediately with a fireball that rocketed through the grass and setting it ablaze before crashing into Baltoy with a small explosion. Baltoy spun on the spot from Ember's impact but showed no signs of damage besides that.

"Baltoy, use your Psybeam," Emily ordered. Baltoy spun rapidly on the spot while emitting an odd sort of clacking noise before it came to a stop and fired a beam of rainbow-colored energy at Soul. The beam struck Soul and seemed to attack his mind more than his body. Psybeam felt as it were ripping his mind apart, leaving Soul with a pounding headache and what Soul guessed to be a burn on his stomach. Being a Fire-type, Soul never learned what burns felt like.

"Now use Rapid Spin!" Baltoy spun around like a gyroscope and launched itself at Soul while kicking up dust in its wake. Baltoy's high speed rotations stopped abruptly as it finally slammed into its Charmander opponent and threw him forward, leaving a bruise on Soul's chin.

"Rock Tomb!" Emily barked. Baltoy's 'eyes' glowed once more and it formed a purple energy ball in its 'hands'. Baltoy threw the sphere at the spot just behind Soul where it landed and caused a stalagmite to burst out of the ground and rudely stop Soul's flight. Instead of groaning in pain like normal Pokémon, Soul just grinned and forced himself to bear the pain. This battle was getting really enjoyable.

"That's the way, buddy. Now what say we show them Smokescreen?" Soul grimaced slightly before he sucked in a lungful of air and combined it with his inner fire, creating an acrid smoke. Soul belched said smoke out of his lungs so it covered he entirety of the field, obscuring Baltoy's view, if it had one to begin with.

"Too easy," Emil smirked. "Blow it away with another Rapid Spin." Baltoy made the clacking noise again and the sound grew in volume with each rotation. Eventually, Baltoy spun fast enough that the Smokescreen began to disperse revealing a charging Soul with his claws pulled back.

"Gotcha," Grey grinned as Soul dragged his claws along Baltoy's body with Metal Claw, leaving three deep grooves in the once pristine pink pattern. Emily grit her teeth angrily and glared at Soul who only stuck his flaming tongue out at her.

"What's the matter? Getting a bit angry?" Grey taunted. If she was going to use mental warfare, then so was he. "I thought Gym Leaders were supposed to be stronger than this."

"Shut up!" Emily shot back with a small smirk. "You lost the first time, anyway."

"Touché," Grey said offhandedly. "Now for my retort: Soul, Dragon Rage!" Emily was completely caught off guard and couldn't issue a command in time. Soul's tail flame flared up to three times its usual size and burned white hot as his eyes flashed white. The little salamander opened his mouth to reveal the gold-orange ball of crackling draconic energy before he threw his head forward and sent the attack smashing into Baltoy. The Clay Doll Pokémon let out loud sound like radio static, which Grey took to be a sound of pain.

"That was kind of a dirty trick," Rachel frowned, looking down at Grey in disdain because of his trickery towards Emily. She crossed her arms and looked to Juniper for an answer.

"Well, Emily tried it, too, remember? Grey's just fighting fire with fire, so to speak," Juniper replied.

"Seriously? So trainers will trash talk each other during battle?"

"It's so that the other trainer loses focus and leaves themselves open. Mental warfare, you know?" Rachel's frown deepened. If trainers employed such dirty tactics, then the upstanding moral code of the Pokémon Rangers appealed to her much more.

* * *

Jameson happily traveled out of Knight City with his bag over his shoulder and his Gym Badge in hand. He smiled to himself, thinking about how hard he had to work to get the badge. If it weren't for Shishi's final Shadow Ball attack, Jameson was sure he would've lost. Good thing he had taught Sniper Vacuum Wave in order to pose some kind of threat against Emily's Larvitar. And that Trapinch of hers was a real bother as well. Well, James was just glad it was all over.

As Jameson finally neared the tunnel Emily had told him about, he saw a couple of oddly dressed men standing in front of it. They wore green military uniforms with white feathers on the arms and a small pair of white wings on the back with helmets of the same color emblazoned with a gold S on their heads. He decided to ignore them for the most part but found that impossible when one man threw his hand out in front of James's path.

"Hey, what's going on?" James asked unsurely.

"This area's been restricted for the moment, young man," the first soldier said. "You'll have to come back later."

"How long is later? I sort of want to get to the next town without any trouble," Jameson said. He couldn't help but wonder what was really going on.

"Hey, we said come back later, brat!" the second man spat. He pulled a Pokéball of his belt and pointed it at Jameson threateningly. "Unless you want to make a big deal about it, I suggest you leave." Jameson looked at this man with the utmost contempt in his eyes. He spat at the man's feet and the first soldier laughed out loud at James's show of guts.

"Why you --!" the agressive man roared.

"If you didn't want me to spit at you, you shouldn't have sprayed spit all over my face," James growled. He stalked off; he really didn't want to deal with this right after a Gym battle. He supposed he'd just come back tomorrow, then.

* * *

Back on the battlefield, Soul was swiping away at Baltoy with Scratch attack while his opponent teetered and tottered on its point to avoid being hit. Soul attempted to flare his tail flame up and slam Baltoy with it. The grass around Baltoy caught fire and the heat began to make it wither, leaving itself open to a tail slam to the side of the head. Baltoy was send reeling and this made Emily grit her teeth harder. Forcing herself to calm down, the Gym Leader quickly came up with a counter. Grey was doing well, but lets see how he did after an attack like this.

"Baltoy, Psybeam attack!" she commanded. Baltoy shot the rainbow light out of its eyes again which Soul leapt over to dodge. Seeing her chance, Emily leapt at it without a moment's hesitation. "Charge Beam!"

Baltoy nodded an affirmative and started collecting static out of the air with its psychic power. It condensed the electricity into a ball between its hands and fired it with a savage sounding series of clacks. The electrical beam cut through the air like a knife and crashed into Soul, making his muscles heave and spasm. The attack left a large electrical burn on Soul's left shoulder, making the Charmander clench his fangs in pain and wince heavily. He _really _hated Electric-types and their damned attacks.

"Char! Charmander!" _Grey! Let's get her! _Soul growled after the effects of Charge Beam went away.

"You got it! Use your Ember!" Grey marshaled as he pointed a finger at Baltoy. The Clay Doll Pokémon suddenly let out a victorious cry, which was oddly the only normal sound it made the entire fight. Ember attack met its mark, however, and left a large black spot and a burn on the clay doll.

"Ba~al!" Baltoy said mysteriously. Baltoy's exclamation sent a slight chill of fear up Rachel's spine and a chill of excitement up Juniper's. For Emily, this cry meant that the tables had turned in her favor for the moment, even with the burn Baltoy sustained showing itself as it suddenly burst into flames for a split second.

"Baltoy, AncientPower," she grinned. Baltoy began to spin once more as a white aura surrounded its body. Its eyes shone with the same power and it stopped suddenly. The aura around its body condensed into a silvery ball which it shot forward at Soul with a burning anger. Knowing the nature of the primeval attack, Grey desperately shouted for Soul to dodge. AncientPower missed Soul as the Lizard Pokémon jumped to the side to avoid it, but Soul was too slow to avoid a second barrage of the attack. AncientPower exploded in a shower of silver sparks that mingled with the shattered turf it blasted into the air.

Soul fell to his knees in pain. AncientPower was super effective against his type and he knew he couldn't afford to be hit by another blast like that. Despite all that, Soul was pumped full of adrenaline and greatly enjoying this battle.

"Soul, that's enough," Grey said, immediately cutting Soul's fun short.

"Char?!" Soul said incredulously.

"I know, buddy; I know. But you've taken a lot of damage. You need to rest, alright?" Soul sighed as he was sucked back into his Pokéball by the red energy beam. He'd be out again, however. He just knew it.

Grey let go of a breath he had no clue he was holding. He was doing great; much better than last time. Calling back Soul may have upset the Charmander but it was the smartest course of action at the moment. Grey inwardly praised himself. He was learning quickly, which was a skill every trainer had to possess if they wanted to improve.

"_But_,_"_ he thought, _"I can let the adrenaline lead me for just a little while." _Coming out of his thoughts, he faced Emily with a question.

"If you don't mind answering, that AncientPower looked a lot stronger from the one I've seen. How come?"

"Charge Beam is an attack that has a really high chance of increasing the strength of a Pokémon's special-based attacks like AncientPower or Psybeam. It did just that for Baltoy, which resulted in the AncientPower you saw," Emily explained. "By the way, you burned my Baltoy."

Grey only grinned as he watched Baltoy. The effects of the burn showed once more; Baltoy spontaneously combusted before the flames died as quick as they appeared, making the Clay Doll Pokémon cry out in pain.

"Let me introduce you to my newest Pokémon," Grey said, preparing to wing it. Special attacks seemed to be Baltoy's forte, but Grey reasoned most Pokémon like that could be overpowered by brute force. He plucked out a Pokéball from his jacket pocket and made it grow in one swift motion before tossing it into the ring with a powerful over-arm lob. "Maverick, battle style!" In a flash of light, Grey's Onix materialized and roared proudly.

"Rooooooooh!"

"An Onix," Emily breathed. "It looks like it's the same one from Geo Path last week."

"That he is. And he's gotten much stronger, right, Maverick?"

"Rooooooh…" the behemoth Pokémon rumbled. Maverick looked down on Baltoy with disdain. _Such a small enemy, _he complained. _You won't even be worth the effort. _Baltoy stared at Maverick for a while before it turned its head to the left.

_Big blowhard, _it said in a slightly emotionless voice. Maverick let out a low, menacing growl that would send even Soul into a fit of fearful shivers. This thing just showed him disrespect. Now it was going to get it.

"Onix vs. Baltoy. Start the fight!" the ref shouted.

"Baltoy, use Confusion. Shoot it into the air!" Emily yelled, throwing her arm out as she spoke. Baltoy let out a long, drawn out call of the first half of its name before its eyes glowed with a mystic blue glow and it slowly began to raise its arms to the sky. Maverick's body became enveloped in the same blue glow as he started to be lifted off the ground by Baltoy's mental energy. Baltoy struggled a bit before it finally threw its arms into the air, sending Maverick up with that one motion.

The Onix rapidly rose towards the ceiling before he abruptly stopped and was slammed back into the ground. Maverick let out a series of gravelly laughs as he rose up to full height, having taken no damage from the attack. He did, however, leave behind a crater shaped like his body.

"Come on; you should know that an Onix's body protects him from attacks like that," Grey taunted. "Now, Maverick, use Headbutt!" Maverick roared proudly and coiled his body up like a spring before launching himself forward headfirst and smashing his skull into Baltoy's body. The little clay doll was launched forward with all the speed of a tossed discus and crashed through one of the bigger stalagmites. Emily's eyes widened and closed in shock all in one smooth motion as Baltoy took heavy damage from Onix's Headbutt.

"Maverick, how about using Rock Throw?" Grey suggested. Out of respect for his new trainer, Maverick raked his tail through the ground, catching one of the boulders on the field and flicked it upwards, sending a rain of rocks toppling onto the dazed Baltoy who had yet to pick itself up.

"Baltoy, quick; Rock Polish!" Emily cried frantically. The patterns on Baltoy's stomach and above its eyes glowed a bright red before it suddenly sped up and spun out of the way of every last falling boulder. Emily breathed a sigh of relief before shouting, "Confusion! Send a stalagmite at him!"

Baltoy let out a ghostly cry of its name as it forcibly uprooted a stalagmite with its mind and launched it at Maverick with a burning fury. The stalagmite hit Maverick at the base of his body, causing him to trip over and land flat on his face. The Onix roared at the indignity inflicted upon him and used Screech to root Baltoy in place.

"Didn't call for that, but okay," Grey shrugged. "Maverick, Slam it into the ground." His Onix happily obliged and brought his tail down on Baltoy's head in a powerful hammer blow of a Slam attack that literally drove Baltoy into the ground on its point. The Clay Doll Pokémon was obviously knocked out, securing Grey's second-round win.

"Baltoy is unable to battle." The referee rose the green flag in Grey's direction for the second time that match. "Onix is the winner."

"Oh, yeah!" Grey shouted ecstatically. This was going much better than he'd hoped it would. He was on top of his game and on top of the world. The adrenaline pumped through him in gallons as he jumped up and down like a madman. Emily returned Baltoy to its ball solemnly, giving it words of thanks before replacing it with another Pokéball.

"You're doing great, kid. But this is where I draw the line. I can't have two losses in a row, so I'm stopping you with my last Pokémon," she said seriously. Grey made no attempts at sobering himself instead opting to goad Emily on by shouting in victory. Gritting her teeth, Emily launched the ball into the ring, shouting,

"Rhyhorn, let's run them down!" Rhyhorn materialized in midair and landed with a heavy thud that shook the ground.

"Rhyhorn vs. Onix," the referee said dramatically. "Start the battle!"

"Rhyhorn, Take Down!" Emily barked. Rhyhorn let out a savage bellow and thundered across the simulated plains land before ramming his down into Maverick's hide. The impact jarringly stopped Rhyhorn's charge and pushed his Onix opponent against the field, creating a large gouge in the earth. Maverick groaned in discomfort; the attack had actually caused some damage and that, to him and to anyone, was a threat.

"No way!" Grey shouted in disbelief, immediately refocusing. "Maverick, strike back with Slam!" Maverick roared indignantly and struck another hammer blow to Rhyhorn's side, dragging the Spikes Pokémon through the dirt and grass. "Now use Screech and soften him up!" Again, Maverick opened up his gaping maw and let out a low-pitched screech that grated at Rhyhorn's ears and lowered its ability to take physical blows. As Rhyhorn winced, Grey took the time to order Maverick to use Headbutt. Maverick's skull crashed into Rhyhorn and he used his horn to fling the Spikes Pokémon up into the air.

Rhyhorn came back down with a deafening crash and a massive dust cloud but was miraculously able to get himself back up with minimal damage, pawing at the ground in rage. "Rhyhorn, use Rock Blast!" Emily shouted having gotten back into the groove. Rhyhorn grunted as he dug his horn into the ground and produced a boulder before he sent it flying at Maverick's head.

"Maverick, Harden!" Grey commanded. Maverick stood stock still and tightened every muscle in his body in order to weather the impact of the repetitive attack. With every boulder launched, however, Grey noticed that Rhyhorn flung the boulders with accuracy and speed but the lag time between each launching increased, leaving Emily's Pokémon open for just a little while. Grey thought he could use this to his advantage with Maverick, until Emily pulled a trick out of her bag.

"Rhyhorn, Ice Beam!" Grey's eyes nearly popped out of his head.

"What?!" Grey screamed.

"Rhyhorn can use Ice Beam?!" Juniper screeched as she rapidly scrawled across her clipboard faster than any typewriter.

Rhyhorn's mouth wrenched open to reveal an orb of cyan blue energy charging in it. The Spikes Pokémon fired the beam, which began freezing water molecules in the air at an alarming rate, and it crashed into Maverick's body, rapidly freezing it and causing double damage. The ice spread like wildfire and Grey knew he had to do something fast; Maverick was already looking worse for wear after that one attack.

"Maverick, get out of there! Use Dig!" he cried frantically. Maverick roared weakly and dove headfirst into the ground to avoid damage, but Rhyhorn still had one last trick.

"Rhyhorn, Magnitude," Emily smirked. Rhyhorn seemed to have a sadistic grin on its face as it reared up on its hind legs and slammed them back into the ground, sending devastating shockwaves of Ground-type energy underground where they crashed into Maverick and did an enormous amount of damage. Maverick was literally shot back out of the hole he created like a cannonball and landed with an even heavier thud and a larger dust clouth than any Rhyhorn could've created. Running up to his Onix's head, Grey saw Maverick was completely unconscious.

"Onix is unable to battle; Rhyhorn is the winner," the referee declared as he rose the red flag towards Emily.

"No way," Grey breathed. He'd let his ego get ahead of him and now his powerhouse Pokémon was unable to keep going. He kicked the ground angrily and tapped Maverick's eyelid to wake him. The Onix's eyelid fluttered open and he looked at Grey with a mournful gaze as if apologizing. Grey wondered exactly when he'd gotten that much respect out of a Pokémon as proud as his Onix for it to apologize for losing.

_Not…apologizing,_ Maverick said through the pain. _Angry that I lost… But still… Sorry for losing… _Grey picked it up and nodded, returning Maverick to his Pokéball in a flash of red light and leaving another Onix-shaped crater behind.

"I'm sorry, Maverick. I should've stayed focused," Grey muttered angrily. "You don't need to apologize; just sleep."

"Don't ever underestimate a Gym Leader, or any opponent for that matter," Emily said in a mocking tone. "I guess when it comes to powerhouses, your Onix has a very long way to go, huh? Sorry I had to rough him up like that, but you _did_ demolish my Baltoy."

"Yeah, and we're about to demolish Rhyhorn, too," Grey growled. He took a quick look at the once-whole field now littered with holes, massive craters, a groove from Rhyhorn's smashing into Maverick, several burnt spots from Soul and most of the grass either cut down or burned. It was definately a place where a Gym battle had taken place. Grey took another Pokéball out of his pocket and desperately willed his plan to work. If Lucy couldn't do this, then Soul was in for one hell of a ride. "Lucy, back on!" Once more, Lucy materialized onto the battlefield after a burst of light.

"Bui!" she barked, staring down Rhyhorn with an intense burning glare. Rhyhorn let out a laugh.

_You again, girlie?_ he snorted. _Won't even be a challenge._

_I'll make you eat those words, numbskull, _Lucy spat. Her fur stood on end. She was going to either beat Rhyhorn into the ground or cause as much damage as she could before she went down herself.

"Rhyhorn vs. Buizel. Start the match!" the referee declared, throwing his flags into the air.

"Lucy, let's wear him down first," Grey suggested, knowing only Lucy's Water-type moves and maybe Pursuit would work on Rhyhorn. "Use Aqua Jet!" Lucy bounded into the air with a shout and covered herself in water before jetting forward and slamming herself into Rhyhorn's thick hide. The water around her also crashed into Rhyhorn like an ocean wave, begetting a groan of pain from the dull-witted rhino.

"I told you: Rhyhorn takes Water-type attacks like a man. Now let's show them Fury Attack, Rhyhorn," Emily grinned. Rhyhorn bellowed and slammed his horn into Lucy's fragile body repetitively while she was in close range. Rhyhorn came very close to rending paths of skin right off of Lucy's body but only left large bruises behind, to his disappointment.

"Crap," Grey muttered.

"After Onix got knocked out so easily, what chance does his Buizel have against that thing?" Rachel asked worriedly as she wrung her hands together.

"Onix took two super-effective hits in a row, so it's no wonder he went down so fast. I think Grey can get himself out of this mess, though," Juniper said positively. "We just have to wait and see how."

"Think!" Grey mumbled to himself. "If there were a time to use the battlefield, it's now. I just have to figure out a way." Grey's eyes set upon the crater that Maverick left behind after his defeat, sparking an idea just in time.

"Rhyhorn, let's give Buizel another taste of your Rock Blast!" Emily shouted now that she was fully back in her groove. Rhyhorn groaned before once more digging up a boulder and launching it at Lucy.

"Lucy, into the trench!" Grey called. With amazing speed, Lucy dashed into the trench left behind by Maverick's fall and lay down flat on her stomach. Grey grinned as Rhyhorn's Rock Blasts flew by over head and was glad for noticing Rock Blast couldn't be fired at a downward angle. "Water Gun!" he commanded as soon as Rhyhorn's assault was finished. Lucy fired her water blast and it sped toward Rhyhorn like an arrow before it pummeled him with second after second of painful water.

"That's it," Emily sighed. "I'm ending this. Rhyhorn, Thunderbolt and make it hurt." Rhyhorn let out an enraged bellow that resonated within the confines of the Gym and collected electricity around his horn before releasing it as a powerful electric whip that threatened to cause Lucy immeasurable pain.

"Time for our secret weapon," Grey said to himself. "Lucy! Double Team!"

"Bui!" Lucy grunted as she sped out of Thunderbolt's path and circled around Rhyhorn so fast, she created afterimages of herself. Rhyhorn frantically looked from one Buizel to the other, trying to determine which one was real and confusing himself in the process. Rhyhorn's efforts gave him a pounding headache which made it impossible to concentrate on the battle.

"Rhyhorn, snap out of it!" Emily cried to her Pokémon, but her pleas were in vain. Rhyhorn just couldn't focus.

"Good thing I got that TM beforehand. I remembered that Rhyhorn are only able to concentrate on one thing at a time, so using Double Team to confuse it was a foolproof strategy," Grey grinned. "Lucy, Sonic Boom and aim for the horn!"

"Bui _Bui!_" Lucy grunted as she snapped her tails. The two mini-sonic booms she created hit Rhyhorn straight in the horn and caused the Spikes Pokémon great discomfort. The vibrations that started at his horn quickly spread to his head, making his pounding headache worse. Lucy took the opportunity to combine Quick Attack and Aqua Jet as Grey had commanded and send the water from her attack barreling into the Spikes Pokémon like a tidal wave.

"Yes!" Grey shouted. He was going to win!

"Rhyhorn, if you can hear me, Magnitude, now!" Emily shouted. Rhyhorn raged through his headache and stomped on the ground furiously. The ground shook like it was a boat caught in a tropical storm and Lucy lost her balance, causing all her Double Team clones to disappear. When she fell over, Emily gave the command for Stomp attack and Rhyhorn happily obeyed, rushing forward, slamming Lucy with his horn and bringing the whole of his weight down on Lucy through his one foot.

"Finish her with Thunderbolt!" Emily roared, stomping her foot for emphasis. Rhyhorn cackled as the electricity gathered around his horn and he directed it downwards into Lucy. The Buizel screamed in agony as the electrical blast was forcibly pumped through her system, draining her power and making her muscles go out of control. When Rhyhorn was finished, Lucy's body relaxed and her head slumped to the floor. She was down and out.

"Buizel is unable to battle," the referee said emotionlessly as he again showed Emily the red flag. Grey stood stock still in shock. Lucy had been beaten again. "Rhyhorn is the victor." Grey rushed onto the battlefield through the waist-high grass and picked Lucy up tenderly.

"Luce, wake up! Are you okay?" he asked. His Buizel's eyes fluttered open and she gave a weak cough. "Thank goodness."

"B-bui…" Lucy coughed. _I lost…_

"Maybe, but look," Grey said. Lucy weakly turned her head in Rhyhorn's direction. The Spikes Pokémon was nearing his limit after the attacks Lucy flung at him -- especially the water ones. That put a small smile on Lucy's face. The bastard was sure to go down after Soul gave him a good thrashing. "You did great, Lucy. I couldn't have done this without you." Lucy filled with pride before she finally closed her eyes and fell into sleep's warm embrace.

Grey recalled her into her Pokéball before taking Soul's out. This was it; if Soul didn't win here, then they'd have to come back again in another week. And, being the stubborn, impatient person he was, Grey was not going to let that happen. Not after seeing how hard all of his Pokémon fought. He took one last look at the battlefield; the dried-up mud pools, the Onix trench, the hold Maverick dug, the boulders, rock spires and grass. All of it could be used somehow. With no plans coming to mind, Grey finally decided to make it up as he went along.

"Soul, battle style!" Grey cried. Soul appeared on the field for the second time that day, took one look at Rhyhorn and grinned. As far as cakewalks went, the battle about to unfold was definitely in that category. "Soul, get ready. We're going all out."

"Char!" Soul said, flexing his claws out of habit.

"Your Charmander against my Rhyhorn. There can really only be one winner," Emily smirked. Grey gave her a smirk of his own.

"Yeah, and that winner's gonna be Soul."

"Last battle: Rhyhorn vs. Charmander. Let the battle begin!" the referee shouted. He threw his flags down to signal the start of the match and Grey was the first to react.

"Soul, Ember attack!" he shouted. Soul was just as quick as Grey as he fired two concussive fireballs in Rhyhorn's direction. The fireballs were right on target and hit Rhyhorn, exploding into tiny sparks. The sparks fell out of the air and set the grass at Rhyhorn's feet on fire. The Spikes Pokémon stomped on the fires before turning to Soul with a blazing glare.

"Rhyhorn, don't take that sitting down. Strike back with Horn Attack," Emily said coolly. After seeing that a Fire-type was Grey's last option, she fell into the assumption that her Rhyhorn was the only true victor. Rhyhorn charged across the faux-plains and bent his head down so his horn was poised at Soul's gut. He just grazed the fire lizard, however, having missed when Soul jumped out of the way. Skidding to a stop, the Spikes Pokémon turned to glare at the Lizard Pokémon, who seemed to not mind his various injuries.

_What's the matter, tubby? Getting tired?_ Soul taunted.

_Shut up!_ Rhyhorn bellowed.

"Rock Blast!" Emily called. Again, Rhyhorn lifted boulders out of the ground to throw at Grey's Pokémon like stone cannonballs. Remembering the lag time between Rock Blasts, Grey thought on the fly and came up with a plan of action.

"Soul, wait until he starts lifting a boulder and fire Ember from a distance," Grey said. Soul nodded and dodged one, two, three, four Rock Blasts, firing one or two Embers depending on the lag time between shots. Rhyhorn's fifth and strongest Rock Blast found its mark and sent Soul bouncing across the ground like a skipping stone for what the Charmander guessed to be the ninth time in a week.

"Char Charmander," _I really hate that, _Soul groaned as he got back up.

"Looks like poor Charmander's getting tired," Emily noted. "Well, that just makes our job easier, huh, Rhyhorn?" Rhyhorn grunted an affirmative as he stopped to catch his breath.

"We're not going down yet. Rhyhorn's much more tired than we are," Grey shot back. Soul nodded and took deep breaths to try and get his energy back.

"We'll see about that. We're ending this with one last attack, Rhyhorn. Magnitude; full power and make sure he doesn't get back up!" Rhyhorn bellowed louder than ever before and slammed the ground with his forelegs. The ground ripped open due to the shockwaves the Spikes Pokémon emitted, making it seem as if a torpedo was headed for Soul.

"Dodge and use Metal Claw!" Grey shouted, finally letting the adrenaline take full control. But Soul was unable to dodge and Rhyhorn's attack hit dead on, ripping the ground around him apart and flinging him into the air. Soul landed hard on his back and breathed heavily; it looked like this was the end for Grey. Emily smirked and crossed her arms.

"Well, looks like that's that," she said. "Ref, call it."

"Soul! Get back up!" Grey pleaded with his Charmander, clenching his fists so tightly, his nails dug into his palms. Soul grunted and put all his power behind his arms, somehow managing to get back up. Grey punched the air victoriously and let out a yell of joy. "You rule, Soul!"

"Char," Soul said, giving Grey a thumbs up.

"How'd he get back up?" Emily wondered in astonishment.

"Yeah, how did he?" Rachel asked. "How'd little Soul get back up after Onix was knocked out in one shot?"

"Hm…" Juniper hummed. "It was probably because Magnitude is an attack that varies in strength. The one that Maverick got hit by was most likely a strong one and it hit a lot harder because the target was underground. The one that hit Soul must've been pretty weak," she reasoned.

"Soul, set the grass on fire! Use your tail!" Grey barked suddenly, scaring even Emily.

"Are you crazy?!" she screamed. "Your Pokémon will be hurt, too!" A manic grin broke out across Grey's face as he nodded at Soul to execute the attack. Soul flared his tail flame up and swiped it across the grass, instantly setting it on fire. He ran around Rhyhorn, creating a ring of fire that trapped the confused Spikes Pokémon in it. The bright light coming from the fire quickly captured Rhyhorn's attention and dragged it away from the battle. It actually started to walk towards the fire in a daze to look closer at the distracting substance. Grey's improvised strategy had worked.

"Rhyhorn, focus!" Emily shouted desperately.

"Soul, Dragon Rage!" Grey roared, the adrenaline flowing in full force. By now, he seemed to be spouting off random commands. His Charmander's eyes glowed a startling white as he built up the draconic energy in his mouth and flung it at Rhyhorn through the flames. Dragon Rage hit, enticing a bellow out of Rhyhorn who was now very close to passing out due to the heat.

"Rhyhorn!" Emily shouted.

"Soul, Metal Claw!" Grey roared. Soul let out a loud battle cry as his claws became empowered with Steel-type energy and leapt through the flames. He brought his claws crashing down onto Rhyhorn's face and the powerhouse let himself fall to the ground like a ton of bricks. The giant had fallen and Grey officially won his first Gym battle.

"Yes, yes, yes!" he shouted ecstatically. He jumped in the air and did a victory dance as Soul tackled him in a hug. "Soul, you rule! Lucy rules; Maverick rules; you all rule! We won our first Gym Badge!"

"Char char Charmander!" Soul cried. He was bruised and he still had a headache from taking a Psybeam but he couldn't care less. He'd been in some great fights today and that's all that mattered to him.

"He won; he won!" June said jumping up and down in her seat.

"Why are you so happy about this!?" Rachel shouted even though she felt happy, too. She didn't like it, but Grey had won and she was happy for him.

Emily sighed in defeat as she returned Rhyhorn to his Pokéball. She lost and that was all there was to it. Maybe she had been a bit too cocky in the fight and that's what made her lose but she wasn't going to reflect on that now; it was neither the time nor the place.

"Grey!" she called over to him.

"What is it?" Grey grinned, Soul riding on his shoulder and feeling like a king.

"Go get your Pokémon healed and come back in a half hour. I'll have your badge then

* * *

After the fire had been put out and the Pokémon had been healed, Grey reported to the Gym again. All three of his Pokémon were out of their Pokéballs and Grey had thanked them all for a hard-fought Gym battle. Emily's Pokémon -- Gligar, Baltoy and Rhyhorn were also outside of their Pokéballs. All of them had grudging smiles on their faces after losing, but they were proud of their skills either way.

"You learned," Emily said simply. "That's what every trainer has to do; they learn and they grow and they change with their Pokémon. You were the better trainer today and that won you this." Emily took a small brown piece of metal out of her pocket and handed it to Grey. It was polished to a shine and appeared to be a rock with a purple crack in it that glimmered in the midmorning sunlight. It reminded Grey of a geode.

"The Geo Badge," Emily said. She pressed it into Grey's hand and the boy stared at it in disbelief. "You earned it."

"My first badge…" Grey breathed. "No; our first badge. There's no way I could've won this without the three of you." Grey turned to his Pokémon with a smile on his face. "Maverick, Soul, Lucy; thank you. You guys rock!"

"Rooooh-nix!"

"Buizeru!"

"Cha~rmander!"

"Thanks, Emily," Grey said, still smiling.

"Don't mention it," Emily said offhandedly. "Seriously, don't. I can't have people knowing I lost, so don't even show that Gym Badge," she joked.

"In your dreams. Now, where's the next Gym?" Grey asked eagerly. He calmed himself, however. What was the harm in taking the scenic route?

"If you go through the farmland west of here and keep going north, there should be an older tunnel that was dug before Geo Path," Emily explained. "That'll take you into the Melange Woods and from there, follow the signs. Little word of advice: the Gym Leader there, Kory, uses Fighting-types. You'll have a hard time winning the Combat Badge from him."

"I wouldn't like it if it were easy, anyway," Grey smiled. "Next stop, the Combat Badge."

* * *

**So, combined with the first half of this two-parter, you've read 28 pages. New record for me :D**

**I hope the Gym battle wasn't rushed in any way. I think I could've done with a bit more detail here and there but there really weren't any outside events for me to write about. **

**Jameson's already headed out of town and ran into Simurgh Grunts along the way but not without showing them a whole lot of disrespect. Gotta admire his guts.**

**Lawl, "aim for the horn." That never gets old.**

**And Grey's got his first Gym Badge under his belt. Ooh, shiny…**


	8. Enter Team Regal

Okay, so... I know it's been forever-and-a-day since I last updated and I have the usual explanation: school's a bitch. My last report card wasn't so good, so I've been refocusing on getting my grades back up. Anyone currently in high school knows what I'm talking about =.= It's a pain in the ass and gets in the way of your free time. Anyway, I've rambled on enough. Let's get to what you guys came here to see.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Pokémon franchise in any way, shape, or form. This is written purely for fun. However, I do on a cell phone I managed to put a crack in. Don't know my own strength o.O

"normal speech"

"_emphasis_"

_Pokémon speech_

_"thought"_

* * *

**Chapter 8: **The Second Villainous Group! Enter Team Regal!

Grey couldn't hold back the victorious grin on his face as he held up his Geo Badge to the midmorning sunlight. It was the day after his victory over Emily and her juggernaut of a Rhyhorn and he had a right to be proud of himself. He was practically skipping as he walked through Knight City's agricultural district towards the tunnel that would put him on the path to Melange Town. However, pride and arrogance were just one step away from each other and Grey was milking his victory a bit too much.

"Oh, yeah! Who's stupid now, Rae? You said I wouldn't beat Emily and look what I've got to prove it." Grey flicked the Geo Badge like a coin before shoving the small piece of metal into his sister's face. Rachel growled and pushed her brother's hand away from her face.

"Alright, alright; I get it, Grey," she muttered angrily. She quickened her pace in order to put some distance between her and her infuriating younger brother. Grey only smirked and put his badge back into the case he'd received at the Pokémon Centre before leaving.

"Vul Vulpix?" Vulpix mewled at her owner.

"He's just a stubborn little punk, Vulpix; that's all," Rachel growled.

"Hey, Grey, don't you think you're taking this a bit too far? She's your sister, after all," Juniper said in a wise voice. Rosewood nodded in agreement from around Juniper's shoulders.

"Hey, I think I have a right to gloat after all the times she told me to pack it up and go home. This just proves her wrong and I'm gonna rub it in her face as much as possible," Grey responded arrogantly. Juniper sighed; she should've known that getting something through Grey's head would take a lot more than that.

"Either way, I wanna at least get a third of the way to Melange Town before sundown," Grey said. He placed his hands behind his head and smiled to himself, fantasizing about his next gym battle.

For the next couple of minutes, they group made their way through the farmland, passing fields of grazing Tauros and Miltank, houses, and barnyards situated at the backs of the crop fields. The sun shone down on them warmly, reflecting the highly maritime climate, and there was not one cloud in the sky. Everything was pretty much perfect; even Rachel had calmed down a bit. However, peace like this was not meant to last.

"Hey, you guys aren't the same ones that were here yesterday," a familiar voice rang out. Grey snapped out of his daydreaming and June looked up from her notes to search for the source of the voice. It was Jameson, the boy dressed in blue that they'd met before Grey's gym battle. Currently, he wasn't too happy talking to the man standing in front of the entrance to the Melange Town tunnel.

The man in question was wearing a peculiar outfit that resembled and infantry soldier's. The uniform was a regal brown color and the man wore black boots with silver buckles on his feet. Atop his head was a metal helmet with a small pike on top that obscured his eyes and a metal pad rested on his shoulder.

"Listen, kid, I'm just following orders and I was told not to let anyone through here," the man grumbled, obviously annoyed that Jameson was confronting him. "Now, you can come back when we're done here, alright?"

"And I told you that I need to get to Melange Town," Jameson persisted. "Can you just move? I mean, what could I do to mess up whatever you're doing?" The military man growled and Jameson bared his teeth right back. If someone didn't diffuse the situation soon, there'd be a fistfight.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Rachel asked, jogging up to the two confrontational males with her brother and June in tow.

"I keep telling this kid --"

"Jameson; my name is Jameson," the boy interrupted. The man let out an angry sigh before continuing.

"I keep telling _Jameson_ that my associates are doing some important work inside the tunnel and that he'll have to wait until the end of the day to get through."

"And I told him that I need to get to Melange Town. The tunnel's not even that long and I can be out in twenty minutes, tops!" Jameson shot back.

"I agree with Jameson," Grey interjected. "Us being in the tunnel won't cause too much of a problem; this guy's just being difficult."

"You're the ones that are difficult, you little punk!" the man roared finally reaching his limit with the boys. "You should respect your elders and listen when I tell you to wait, damn it!"

"Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but I've got a bit of an authority problem," Grey retorted, putting on a bored and defiant look. "Now would you please move?"

"No! Now get out of here, you brats!" the man shouted. A vein in his neck began to pulse.

"Okay, that's it," Rachel sighed. She picked up Vulpix and held her out towards the man's quickly reddening face. "Confuse Ray," she ordered bluntly. Vulpix's eyes glowed a deep, ghostly blue that the man couldn't take his eyes off of. Slowly, his eyes became crossed and dazed before he finally fell over, clutching his head in confusion.

"Was that really necessary?" Juniper asked as she scrawled down notes on how Vulpix's attack affected humans.

"Yes, it was. Screaming at us wasn't going to help him, anyway," Rachel reasoned with a proud smile. "Thank you, Vulpix."

"Vul vul," the small fox said offhandedly.

"Thank you for that," Jameson said politely, quickly calming down.

"No problem, dude," Grey grinned. Inside Jameson's stomach turned with annoyance. This kid again, he thought. His opinion of Grey being a cocky punk hadn't changed since their first meeting. "I didn't catch your name last time. My name's Grey."

"Jameson," the boy in blue replied a bit curtly. "From Fuchsia City in Kanto."

"I'm Rachel, Grey's older sister."

"My name's Juniper, and this is Rosewood. It's really nice to meet you, Jameson," June said with a smile that made Jameson's hostility completely evaporate.

"You said you were headed to Melange Town, right?" Grey asked. "Well, then what say we travel together? We're all headed towards the same place and we could watch each other's backs along the way."

"I don't know," Jameson mumbled shyly. "I kind of prefer traveling alone."

"Well, traveling in a group is a lot safer than going on your own, right?" Rachel reasoned.

"Yeah, and it must be pretty lonely on your own," June said.

"Ret Furret," Rosewood piped up.

"See; even Rosewood likes you," Grey laughed. "Come on, Jameson. You won't be a burden at all." Jameson considered the offer carefully. True, traveling in a group would be much safer than going on one's own. But, if he did go with them, he'd have to deal with Grey's attitude which he hated so much. He wasn't all that good at socializing, either… In the end, he reasoned that he could put up with Grey, at least until Melange Town.

"Alright," Jameson conceded, "I'll go along with you guys. I guess we're traveling partners now."

"You bet," Grey grinned. "Nice to have you along."

"There's just one thing," Jameson said hesitantly. Seeing the confused looks on his new friends' faces, he pointed down at the confused guard. "What about him?"

"What _about _him?" Grey shrugged. "I say we leave him here until the effects wear off."

"Good plan, little brother," Rachel said, picking up Vulpix and letting the Fox Pokémon rest on her head.

"Don't I always have good ideas?" Grey grinned before stepping over the downed man and into the tunnel. Jameson sighed heavily. This was going to be one long trip; he could just feel it.

* * *

"Hurry it up!" boomed the voice of yet another angry man. The voice echoed throughout the brightly lit expanse of the tunnel, ringing in the ears of his subordinates. Unlike the guard stationed out front, this man was tall and overly muscular with a huge moustache obscuring his upper lip. His eyes were big and currently narrowed in frustration and his bald head glistened with sweat. He was dressed in an outfit similar to the man he'd stationed out front, which was the exact same as the twenty or so grunts he had command over. The only difference was that he had a large gold crown in the center of an icicle, a boulder, and a steel plate design on the left breast and back of his shirt.

Looking over at the dig site he currently presided over, he noted that the excavation's progress was moving a bit too slowly for his liking. For their plans to advance, Team Regal needed this artifact and, damn it all, they needed it _now._

"We don't have all day!" he shouted, brandishing a pickaxe at his man and shaking it like he was going to hit somebody with the spiked tool. "That artifact needs to be dug up by tonight and we haven't made much headway!"

"With all due respect, Sir Otto, we've been moving as fast as we can. The Diglett and Machop are exhausted," a grunt leaning on a shovel pleaded through heaving breaths. This only served to make Otto even angrier.

"You dare talk back to one of Team Regal' officials," he rumbled in a low, menacing growl. "You tread on thin ice, boy." The fear-stricken grunt tumbled backwards off his shovel at the look on Otto's face. It was a look that'd make a war veteran wet his pants while simultaneously humbling the veteran's Gyarados.

"I'm s-sorry, sir!" the grunt stuttered quickly. "I'll get back to work and contact you once we've dug up the artifact. Terribly sorry once more, Sir Otto!" With that, the grunt sprinted away as quickly as he possibly could, tripping over a protruding piece of granite in his mad, fear-fueled dash.

Otto snickered to himself. These grunts were ever so easy to scare and manipulate. "Let's pick up the pace, people! Regirock isn't going to awaken itself!" he boomed.

* * *

"So, you're from Almia?" Jameson asked Grey as the group made their way through the tunnel with Soul and Vulpix's fires being the only source of light. "That's gotta be real far away from here."

"It is," Grey retorted. "Though, Almia's sort of a backwards place. Instead of a Pokémon League, we have the Pokémon Rangers." Grey uttered the last phrase with a tinge of annoyance in his face.

"Hey, I'm a Pokémon Ranger, remember?" Rachel growled. "We have an important job to do, unlike trainers."

"I can sense this is a bit of a fragile subject, huh?" Jameson laughed nervously. He'd quickly become shy in the time it took to make it this far into the tunnel. Maintaining a normal conversation was hard without practice.

"You don't know the half of it," Juniper giggled. "I've only been with these guys for about two weeks, but, from what I can tell, Grey didn't want to be a Ranger but his dad was forcing him to be one. So he ran away from home with Soul."

"Right, because that's what anybody would do," Jameson said sarcastically.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Grey asked suspiciously, narrowing his eyes at the boy in blue.

"It seemed kind of stupid to run away from home because of that," Jameson elaborated. "Couldn't you have reached a compromise with your dad?"

"You obviously don't know my dad," Grey scoffed.

"Although dad _is_ as stubborn as a Tauros, I have to agree with Jameson," Rachel said, feigning sagacity. "You could've persisted and kept asking dad to let you go."

"I would've been thirty-five and a Top Ranger by that time!" Grey retaliated. "I mean, I know mom and dad are worried about me, but I'm just fine. Kids five years younger than me go off on journeys by themselves and do just fine."

"And Grey does have all that training he went through. I honestly think he would've been fine on his own," Juniper put in optimistically.

"It was still a fool thing to do," Jameson laughed. Grey seethed under his breath. Who was this guy to criticize him? They'd barely known each other two hours.

"Well, nobody was asking you in the first place, so why don't you keep your mouth shut?" he muttered.

"Oh, what's the matter? You mad that someone's poking holes in your plan?" Jameson shot back, his face morphing into one of defensive indignation.

"Yeah, kind of. I don't like people assuming that I can and can't do something just because they say so," Grey growled. The two boys glared at one another and the air became charged.

"Guys, you don't have to fight," Juniper whined, trying to defuse the situation while Rosewood, hating confrontation, buried her face in Juniper's shoulder.

"Forget it, June. I've learned that, once two boys start fighting, there has to be a winner for it to end," Rachel droned.

"Vul-pix," Vulpix nodded. From his viewpoint, Soul could almost see lightning spark between Jameson and Grey's eyes.

"Char, Charmander, char," the little salamander squeaked, pulling on his trainer's pant leg. _Hey, calm down, Grey._ Grey heaved a sigh and smiled down at his partner.

"You're right, Soul. He's not worth it." Grey picked up his partner and set the Charmander atop his head. "Let's just keep going for now." Grey quickened his pace, taking the lead so as to keep from fighting with Jameson again.

"Whew," June breathed. "That was a close one."

"Furret," Rosewood agreed.

"Sorry," Jameson mumbled. "I'm not that good at making friends since I used to move around a lot as a kid. Doesn't really help that your brother's such a punk," he continued, directing the last part at Rachel. The pink-headed girl only chuckled and waved the offense off with a hand.

"Don't worry; I say the same thing about him. He's just too rash for his own good, you know?"

"Must get in the way of his battles, too," Jameson reasoned.

"It does; he lost to Emily the first time 'round because he rushed in there without any strategy," Rachel recounted. "Honestly, I cannot believe we're related."

"Squirtle! Water Gun, now!" The strict, militant voice rang out, using the cave's acoustics as amplifiers. It was the voice of a boy and, by the sound of it, a trainer. Grey's ears perked up at the prospect of a battle.

"Hear that, partner? We got ourselves another fight!" he grinned, clenching his fists in anticipation. Soul mimicked Grey's toothy smile and thrust his arm out, pointing towards the direction of the voice.

"Char!" _Onward!_ Grey didn't miss a beat and sprinted off towards the owner of the Squirtle's voice.

"You see what I mean?" Rachel said bluntly, pointing at her brother's retreating back.

* * *

"Squirtle, dodge left, then use your Water Pulse," the boy ordered calmly. His energetic Squirtle obeyed, dodging his Aron opponent's Headbutt attack and retaliating with a powerful orb of condensed water. The Water-type move impacted Aron, sending a wave of water swamping over it and effectively knocking it out. The boy calmly took out a Pokéball and flicked it at Aron. The Iron Armor Pokémon was barely able to put up a fight and was captured almost instantly.

"Nice job, Squirtle," the boy said with a small smile. The tiny turtle nodded at its trainer and toddled over for a well-deserved rest. The boy was dressed in black jeans, hiking boots, a sleeveless red jacket with a yellow t-shirt under it and sunglasses atop his blonde head.

"Now, let's see what you know…" the boy muttered. He took out his Pokédex and held it over his newest capture just as Grey's voice rang out.

"Hey, is anybody in there!?" he shouted. "I challenge you to a battle!" The boy looked in the direction of Grey's voice to see a bright orange light approaching him fairly quickly. He took a battle stance and ordered his Squirtle to do the same. Grey finally appeared to the boy, breathing slightly heavily as he greeted the boy.

"I'm Grey," he said, not wasting any time, "and I challenge you to a battle. What d'you say?" The blonde boy looked over Grey with calm blue eyes before turning his back to the newcomer.

"No thanks; I've got to get out of here by afternoon," the blonde boy retorted calmly. Grey's face fell like a ton of bricks, but he persisted as the blonde boy turned to walk away.

"Hey, come on; don't be like that. A Pokémon battle's always good for training right? My team could use some of that and I'm sure yours could, too," Grey said in his best attempt at persuasion. The boy stopped in his tracks and turned to Grey with a cold fire in his eyes.

"Are you implying that my Pokémon are weak? Because if you are, then you must be pretty desperate. What are you; a newbie?"

"Don't get all defensive!" Grey shouted.

"Char char!" Soul yipped, backing up his trainer. The blonde boy scoffed and turned to leave. This encounter was wasting time that he didn't really have and, right now, he wanted to put as much distance between himself and Grey as possible.

"Fine, be that way," Grey muttered petulantly. "At least tell me your name!"

"Derek," the boy called back with a nonchalant toss of his hand. "Later." With that, his form was swallowed up by the darkness of the cave.

"He's not very sociable, huh, Soul?"

"Char-mander," the fire lizard sighed. Soul jumped down from Grey's head and set himself upon a boulder to rest. As soon as he did, the boulder became dislodged from its surroundings and released a whole slew of rocks that it had been holding back. The rocks tumbled and crashed into one another, sending extremely loud echoes down the entire expanse of the tunnels. The usual reaction of Zubat screeching in anger and Geodude rolling away from the source of the sound was to be expected.

"Grey, why must you keep doing that?" Rachel admonished as she and the others finally made their way over to him. "I'd like at least one day where I can enjoy some peace and quiet."

"Hey, don't look at me; it was Soul," Grey said as he cleaned out his ears with his pinky. Said Charmander rubbed the back of his head embarrassedly.

Unfortunately for the group, Otto had heard the whole thing. Being his naturally suspicious self, his warped reasoning led him to believe that there were other humans besides himself and his men in the caves. His warped reasoning would be right. His face turned a rage-filled shade of puce; had that guard failed in his mission? Oh, this would not stand. Not while Otto of Team Regal was around. Whirling around, he roared,

"Men!" All attention was immediately on him and he continued, "your friend at the Knight City entrance has failed in his mission. And do you all know what that means?" Though Otto was raging now, his men knew this was only the calm before the storm.

"Well, do you?!" he growled. Every one of Otto's men's spines shook with fear.

"Corporal punishment, sir!" they chorused. Otto smiled grimly. Lemmings, he thought; that's all these grunts were.

"Corporal punishment indeed…" he chortled darkly. "Now, I'm going to send two of you out to go find our unwanted guests, even if they've already made it out of the tunnel and into the Melange Town. And when you do find them, bring them back to me personally for… what was it again?" Otto knew full well what the answer was.

"Corporal punishment, Sir Otto, sir!" Otto's mustachioed face broke out into a demonic grin. This was going to be fun for him. He dispatched two grunts like he said he would, confident that they'd succeed in their mission. At least, they'd better, he thought as the two ran towards the tunnel exit. For their own sake.

Meanwhile, Grey's group finally made it out of the tunnel and out to the other side. The terrain that stretched out before them was the same as the area near Knight City; wooded, humid, and slightly mountainous. The path leading to the next town sloped downwards and there weren't as many trees as last time, forecasting a change in geography soon enough. It was now mid-morning, and that fact made Grey realize something that, to him, was extraordinary.

"Hey, guys. With this, we've traveled over one-hundred miles since the start of this journey. Plus, we've gone from jungle to mountain pretty quickly… How's that possible?" he asked.

"Now that I think about it, the geography and climate of this island is pretty strange," Rachel mused. "June, you've lived here longer than us; why is that?"

"The Silver Ring is made up of several islands and one islet including the one we're on now: Pacific Island," June began. "The two main islands, Pacific and Dealer Islands, are the largest and have the most cities. Dealer Island is a lot farther south than where we are now -- a ways east of the Hoenn region, actually -- so it has a pretty warm climate. Pacific Island gets comparatively cooler the further west we go. We only started from a jungle area because the northeastern side of this island is facing the Kanto region."

"So right now, we're a bit south of Johto, right?" Jameson asked. Juniper nodded.

"Mhm; and once we leave Pacific Island, there's a chain of smaller islands connecting us to Dealer Island, but we won't visit them for a while. And since the archipelago is in an L shape and Dealer Island is sort of crescent shaped, we can start making small detours once we leave there," Juniper finished. Grey took out a map of the archipelago and a marker and began making a travel plan as Soul watched curiously at his side.

"So… After we leave Pacific Island," he said, pointing at the land mass slightly south of Johto. He traced his finger down in an L shape, following several smaller islands until he reached the mouth of crescent-shaped Dealer island and the islands that closed the circle, "We'll head to the first city on Dealer Island then over to Quartz City on Forge Island, which is at the top of the crescent."

"Oh, I get it," Rachel dawned. "So then, after that, back to Dealer Island and then to Forsythia Island in the middle of the crescent, then to South Island at the bottom."

Then Jameson said, "And after those three, we have Serenity, Silver, Rainbow, and Golem Islands that connect the two main islands. Then, after them, it's Blue, Heart and Soul Islands for the Pokémon League, and New and Faraway Islands near Kanto and Hoenn."

"And we can make detours at King's Rock Isle and Frost Island along the way," Grey grinned.

"But King's Rock Island is all the way near Orre and Frost Island's so cold compared to the warmth of the main islands," Rachel said, already shuddering at the mention of cold.

"That's because it sits in the middle of this weird current where the waters are always cold," Juniper explained. "Either way, it sounds like a fun trip to me." She giggled and looked up at Grey for confirmation.

"Yeah, and there're bound to be tons of awesome Pokémon along the way, too," Grey said, pumping his fist into the air victoriously. "So, then, let's head out."

"Right," Jameson nodded shyly. "Melange Town it is. Let's go, guys --"

"Hey, you brats!" one of the two grunts Otto dispatched shouted gruffly. The group whirled around in confusion, wondering, for one thing, who had the nerve to call them brats. For Arceus' sake, Rachel was nineteen!

"We've been looking for you. How dare you interfere in Team Regal's affairs!?" the second one said indignantly.

"Team Regal?" Grey wondered with a cocked brow. "Just what the heck is that?"

"I know this one," June muttered gravely. "They're a shady group that's been going around the archipelago doing weird things since a couple of months after the League set in. They're bad news; supposedly, they go around bullying civilians and attempting to steal Pokémon."

"Well, well, well, looks like we've got ourselves a brainiac!" the first grunt growled angrily. "But, that don't matter; you're under arrest by us for interferin' in the first place."

"You kids are going away for a long time," the second one sneered. He and his partner plucked two Pokéballs off their belts and raised them at the group; the international sign of a battle. "And after we kick your asses here, we'll take your Pokémon." He motioned to Soul standing next to Grey's leg.

"Don't you guys know it's rude to use that kind of language in the presence of ladies?" Grey smirked confidently, once again annoying Jameson. Even so, the older trainer joined in on the fun.

"And what makes you think you can take us, huh?" Jameson asked, steeling his gaze. Juniper and Rachel backed up, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire of imminent battle. from the sidelines, Soul, Vulpix, and Rosewood cheered on their friends.

"This," the first grunt said with a malicious grin. He tossed his Pokéball into the air, where it split open and a waterfall of silver light rained down, forming into a small, grey-skinned, humanoid Pokémon with powerfully developed muscles and a tail; a Machop. The second grunt followed suit, releasing a sandy yellow shrew Pokémon with a layered brick pattern on its body and beady black eyes: Sandshrew. It was painfully obvious that, despite being fully grown adults, these two grunts were novices at Pokémon battles. In other words, cannon fodder.

Grey took out a Pokéball, enlarged it, and flung it into the air in one fluid motion, releasing his Onix in a massive flash of light. Jameson went after him, releasing his Scyther, Sniper. Sniper opened his eyes slowly and crossed his scythes in preparation for combat. Maverick however, took the more direct approach, lowering his head and letting out a gruff, menacing 'ROOOOH!' at the Superpower and Mouse Pokémon. Machop didn't flinch due to its hardy nature, but Sandshrew played the chicken and curled into a ball.

"Damn it, Sandshrew! Fight like a man!" the Ground-type's trainer commanded.

"Machop, Karate Chop the Onix!"

"Sandshrew, use Rock Tomb on Scyther!"

The two Pokémon leapt into action, albeit hesitantly on Sandshrew's part. Machop's muscles rippled as it fist glowed a brilliant white as it straightened out its arm and bounded upwards with powerful legs, aiming to slam Maverick's head into the ground. Meanwhile, Sandshrew formed a purple energy sphere in its mouth and lobbed it at the ground, causing rock spikes to erupt out of the ground and continue towards Sniper. The super-effective attack dared to cause critical damage, but Jameson was faster.

"Sniper, get up there and Wing Attack Machop!" he commanded, keeping a level head. Sniper obeyed and pushed himself off the ground and away from Rock Tomb with a grunt and several rapid beats of his wings. Said wings began to glow and the Mantis Pokémon slammed them into Machop's tiny, but powerful body. The blow sent Machop off course, allowing Grey to step in to finish the combination.

"Maverick, use Headbutt now!" Maverick obliged happily, coiling himself up and then launching out like a javelin, skull poised down. Maverick's skull slammed into Sandshrew a second before it panicked and curled up into a Defense Curl. Regardless of the defense boost, Sandshrew was still launched forward into the mountain wall, actually becoming embedded into the rock and falling unconscious. The Onix roared in victory and turned towards Machop who was still trying to shake itself out of its daze.

"Sniper, Slash attack," Jameson said. With a loud battle cry, Sniper raised both his arms, the blades shining maliciously in the sunlight. In an instant, he winged his way into close quarters with the Fighting-type and brought one of his scythes down, leaving a long, bloodless gash on its chest.

"Finish it with Dig!" Grey shouted before Maverick dove headfirst into the ground and came up a moment later under Machop, flinging it into the air. The Superpower Pokémon flailed in the air and landed with a jarring thud, effectively putting it out of the battle.

"Looks like we win," Grey grinned as Maverick coiled himself around his trainer victoriously.

"Scy Scyther," Sniper nodded happily as Jameson petted the giant bug's head for a job well done.

"Wasn't even worth the challenge. You guys must be the weakest of the weak," Rachel laughed harshly. The grunts said nothing and returned their Pokémon to their capsules before turning tail and running back into the cave.

"Well, that was good practice," Grey said, placing his hands behind his head coolly. "I'd say I'm getting better. What about you guys?" Jameson, having had enough, sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose. Grey shot him an inquisitive and annoyed look, prompting the older boy to glare back.

"Can you be any more arrogant?" Jameson grumbled. "Seriously; your ego must be bigger than a Golem." Grey's eyes narrowed into slits.

"Me? I just like having fun is all. Why don't you loosen up and quit being so serious?!" Grey shouted back.

"Here we go; resorting to shouting like a little kid," Jameson laughed.

"You started it, you punk jerk!" The two of them started to walk forward while simultaneously continuing their argument. Soul climbed up back onto Grey's head while the girls hung back, not wanting to get sucked into anything.

"Who're you calling a punk jerk, you brat?"

"You're only a year older than I am!"

"Rachel?" Juniper sighed.

"Yes, June?" the pink haired Pokémon Ranger asked.

"It's going to be a long journey, isn't it?" the younger redhead whined.

"Fuuurret." Rosewood planted her paw into the middle of her face. If this kept up, all her fur'd become prematurely gray. Vulpix mewled in annoyance, sticking close to her trainer so as not to deal with the fighting.

"You know, maybe it's best if we just ignore them," Rachel groaned.

* * *

"You WHAT?!" Otto screamed at the top of his lungs. His face was quickly turning from pale pink to red and the vein in his temple was making itself more and more noticeable with each passing second. The two grunt who'd failed just moments earlier cowered, literally quaking in their boots after relaying their failure. Their fellow grunts stood by, silent as statues, as two of them pulled a large stone tablet out of the excavation site.

"W-w-we're sorry, S-Sir Otto," the Sandshrew trainer stuttered. Anyone could see he was moments away from a mental breakdown. "Those kids…had some strong Pokémon."

"Yeah, boss," the second one said quickly, trying to at least salvage some of his credibility. "One of 'em was real mouthy and used an Onix. He had a Charmander sittin' pretty next to 'im, too. The otha one had a Scyther. We stood no chance, boss; ya gotta understand --"

"Shut up, Terrence!" Otto boomed. He turned his head towards Terrence's partner and said in a low, growling voice, "You're the brains of this little duo. Why didn't you do something about it, Darrel?"

Darrel quivered like a leaf and said, "It was like Terry said, boss. They were way too strong for the two of us grunts." Otto's gaze narrowed and gained some extra malice and venom. He said nothing now, only pointing towards the back wall; the signal for grunts who've failed to await their punishment.

Knowing it was futile to resist, Terrence and Darrel retreated to the back wall. Otto turned around and threw a hand into the air to signal the grunts to pack up. They did as commanded, not wanting to face punishment like their doomed comrades. A brown-haired female grunt walked into the room, a Bayleef stomping faithfully behind her, and approached Otto before saluting.

"Yes, Quinn?" Otto asked, his rage dissipating as quickly as it had come. Quinn was one of Otto's top grunts and was always welcome in his presence. So long as she kept up her good work, at least.

"Sir, the enemy grunt we captured yesterday has finally revealed the location of the next Team Simurgh congregation. Shall we prepare an assault or report this to HQ and await further orders?" Quinn asked in a highly militant voice. Her Bayleef said nothing, opting to look at Otto with emotionless red eyes. Otto stroked his bald chin before replying.

"Take our most elite team from the ones present now. We leave for the location in four days. Dismissed."

"Sir!" Quinn saluted.

"Bay!" the Leaf Pokémon crooned. As Quinn left, an evil smile broke out under Otto's moustache. Team Regal's rivals, Team Simurgh, were looking for a way to gain absolute control over their nemeses, just as Otto's group were attempting to do. He looked over at the stone tablet, riddled with bumps aligned in odd formations, that the grunts had put into a wagon and smiled to himself. With this artifact, Team Simurgh stood no chance. No chance whatsoever.

* * *

**Okay, so I think this is a bit short for me. I don't really know; I was trying to find a good, suspenseful way of ending this chapter. Did I do a good job?**

**Grey VS. Jameson. The rivalry of the ages! Man, it's going to be fun seeing how these two act around each other but, if what happened here is an accurate barometer, it will not be pretty.**

**Thanks again to Shadow Minamoto for submitting his OC, Jameson, and for all his reviews. You rock, dude.**

**Onto the next Gym! But it will be a while before that happens, though. Stay tuned, read, review, and always remember to wash your hair.**

**Brave Soul RMS, out.**

**Chapter Preview:**_ On their way to Melange Town, the group gets lost and stumbles upon an old, run down shack of a hotel to spend the night in. This shady roadside inn just happens to be the favorite hang out spot for some very mischevious Ghost-types with nobody to lead them. And they've just found four new humans and their Pokémon to pick on for the night. Will Grey, Soul, Jameson, and the girls get out by morning, or will they risk being Pokémon playthings for the rest of their days?_

_**Next time: We're Staying the Night! Pokémon Ghost Motel!**_


	9. Pokémon Ghost Motel

I'm BAAAAACK! :D Anyway, I'm liking the hits I seem to be getting on chapters lately, but the bad part about that is that I don't know if you guys really read them or just skim. And, as usual, I can't know unless you leave reviews! *ahem* sorry… Anyway, I'd just like to request that all of you guys out there who read but don't leave reviews, please leave one with some constructive criticism. Do I need to make chapters longer? Shorter? What about character interaction and battle scenes? I need - no - WANT to make this an enjoyable reading experience for you all! But, to do that, I need your help, so, please, read and review. Without further ado, let's torture some characters :D

**Disclaimer:**I _**DO NOT **_own the Pokémon franchise in any way; Pokémon belongs to Nintendo, Game Freak, and Satoshi Tajiri. Please support the official release. And now for the usual snippet about something I DO own: 112$. $42.70 of which went towards my Pokémon SoulSilver Version. HELLZ YEAH!

Oh, on a side note, Grey's team will be based on my current SoulSilver team. No spoilers, of course, but there will be roster changes. Also, my laptop is still broken and, to add to my suffering, my cell phone fell into the *EFF!*ing toilet -_- You can imagine my joy. Point is, I'm using Bartholomew, our desktop, to write this and other chapters until my laptop gets back from the shop. Don't let me down now, Barty…

* * *

**Chapter 9: **We're Staying the Night! Pokémon Ghost Motel!

"Okay… We are completely and utterly lost. Nice job, Blue Boy," Grey muttered acidly at Jameson.

"Char-man-der," Soul growled, crossing his tiny orange arms and swinging his flaming tail.

Although Grey was being petulant about it, he was right. They were lost in ways nobody should ever be. The reason: Rachel decided to be courteous and friendly by allowing Jameson to navigate for them despite the boy's protests. James knew full well that he was directionally challenged and was a fully qualified killer with a map in hand. The reason they were lost now was because Jameson was actually holding the map upside down and backwards, which is how they ended up in the center of a four-way intersection in a dark, creepy wood.

"Well, I asked not to be made navigator," James said meekly. "We're probably a week away from Mélange Town now." He sadly handed the map back to Rachel and promptly settled himself on the ground, head in his hands.

"I told you not to let him have the map!" Grey seethed.

"Oh, you drama queen," Rachel sighed. "We aren't _that_ lost. We're just….uhm…" She shiftily looked around the surrounding area. Seeing nothing but darkness for miles, she felt both her credibility slip as well as her little brother's smug stare digging into her back.

"We're just what, sis?" Grey said with a patronizing coo. "Because I'd sure like to know." Rachel started to grasp at straws until she found the proverbial thinnest. Turning to Grey with a huge smile on her face, she said,

"We're on an adventure!" The silence that followed was almost permeable. June, Rosewood, and even Soul stared at the older female incredulously. Somewhere in the distance, a Kricketot's chirping broke the awkward silence.

"You've GOT to be kidding me," Grey said after about a minute of silence.

"No, no!" Rachel said nervously, waving the thought away with her hand like a bad thought. "I'm serious, guys. This can be fun!"

"What's so fun about being stuck out in the woods with the only light being a small Charmander's tail flame?" Jameson groaned. Turning to Soul, he muttered a hasty, "No offense."

"Char," Soul grunted. He trotted over to Grey and climbed the boy's leg until finding a resting place upon the his shoulder. "Charmander?" he asked Grey, pointing one claw straight ahead.

"You want to go that way? I guess it's better than nothing," Grey shrugged. He adjusted his bag on the shoulder Soul wasn't riding and started forward into the dark.

"You're not honestly going to take a Charmander's directions over mine, are you?" Rachel called after him incredulously. Grey only grunted and threw a hand over his shoulder noncommittally.

"Think of it this way, sis," Grey said, the smirk in his voice evident, "Soul here may have almost gotten me trampled by a Venusaur, be he never once got me lost." Rachel's jaw dropped indignantly. She tried to form a sentence but couldn't find the words and ended up looking like a Magikarp out of water.

"I'm going with him," June said tiredly, getting up to follow Grey. "I don't like being in this place; there might be some less than friendly Pokémon around."

"Fuuur-ret," Rosewood nodded. Rachel gulped audibly.

"Less than friendly? You mean like…G-G-Gastly?" she stuttered. When June didn't answer, panic gripped her like a star pitcher grips a ball. "Are there Gastly around here or not!"

"You didn't know?" James asked, following Juniper's suit. "I thought you of all people would."

"What are you talking about?" Rachel screamed, obviously frightened.

"Well, for one thing, don't do that. The Gastly will find you easier; they like it when you scream," James said. Even though his statement was innocuous, it only served to make Rachel shrink visibly with fear. James raised his eyebrow at her before continuing,

"I own a Ghost-type, so I sort of know how they think. At night, they like to come out and play and tease any travelers or Pokémon that are unlucky enough to bump into them." Rachel let out a tiny peep of fear and her shivers intensified.

"But they're mostly harmless!" James said hurriedly. "Well… Except for Gengar…and Banette." Rachel screamed and gripped her head tightly in an attempt to oust any and all thoughts of the malevolent spirits. Realizing his mistake, James could only watch without any way to calm the girl down. How he hated being so socially inept; it really screwed him over at times like this.

"Dude, just leave her there!" Grey called over his shoulder. "If she doesn't want to become a midnight snack for the ghosts, she'll follow soon."

"Grey!" James shouted in disbelief. "She's your sister, man!"

"She's also a Pokémon Ranger and a big girl now," Grey laughed. "Better hurry up, sis," he sang, "or else the Gengar's gonna get you." That was all the motivation Rachel needed. In a second, she was up and off like a shot and biting her lip to muffle screams as best she could.

Jameson sighed to himself. He already didn't like Grey because of his arrogance, but to act in such a way to his big sister? That was low in James' book.

* * *

_BOOOOOOOOOOOOORED!_

_Shut the 'ell up, Gengar!_

_But, Banette - !_

_I said, 'shut up'! Arceus, don't you 'ave anythin' better to do than whine all day? You're getting on all our nerves!_

_Do we even have nerves? _Froslass asked as she floated by.

_Hell if I know,_ a Gastly answered.

There came a consensus of agreement in the form of various Pokémon calls from the other Ghost types in the raggedy old house. Gastly and Shuppet of all sizes along with a Haunter, Gengar, Banette, and Froslass inhabited the old house and tried to find ways to entertain themselves as the days went by. Their favorite hobby so far, as Gengar like to put it, was scaring the ever-loving sh*t out of any humans or Pokémon that were unlucky enough to come around. Really, it was the only thing keeping the minute amount of sanity that his species possessed intact.

_But I'm BORED,_ Gengar insisted. _It's been weeks since the last couple of Trainers came through here and, it was fun, but now I need more mental stimulation!_

_Does our type even _have_ a brain?_ asked one of the Gastly.

'_Ell if I know,_ Banette shrugged. _And, Gengar, just be patient, okay? We'll find some fun soon._

_How do you know?_ Gengar whined. Banette ground her nonexistent teeth.

_I JUST DO, YA GASBAG! _she roared, Shadow Punching the fully evolved Gas Pokémon in the back of the head. It was going to be one long, _long_, night, she reasoned.

* * *

The group plugged along through the murky darkness. A chilly wind blew by, raising goosebumps on everyone's arms and thoroughly affecting Grey and his sister the worst due to their aversion to cold. Juniper, Grey, and Soul were on point while, at the rear, James was getting all blood flow to his arm cut off by Rachel's deadly, fear-fueled vicegrip. Atop Rachel's head sat Vulpix, utterly embarrassed by her owner's behavior. It was just darkness, for Arceus' sake, and she utterly could not wrap her head around why some humans were so afraid of it.

_Humans, _she muttered dryly. _One minute, they're normal. The next, they take your mind and throw it in a blender._

_Tell me about it, _Soul agreed.

"Hey," Grey said defensively, "it's not as if Pokémon are the easiest to understand either, buddy."

"Explain to me again exactly how it is you can understand what they're saying," James inquired, his curiosity getting the better of him once more. Grey heaved a sigh of annoyance; oh, how he _despised_ repetition.

"I can get Soul the best because he and I have been together the longest. It's a mutual understanding. Other Pokémon…. I don't know, really. Maybe it's just a learned trait from the first thing I said," he explained vaguely.

"Okay…" James said slowly. "So what you're saying is, it's because of Soul that you understand other Pokémon. How?"

"I said I don't know. I never really thought about it past that," Grey said. "Now can we change the subject? Like what in the world is a crumbling old mansion doing in the middle of a deserted road?" Grey asked, pointing at the building with a suspiciously raised eyebrow. The other three travelers stared at Grey skeptically before looking at where he was pointing and finding that there was indeed a dilapidated old mansion situated in the exact center of the road.

"If that doesn't scream 'creepy', I have no clue what does," Jameson muttered, finally retrieving his arm and rubbing it to get the blood flowing again.

"D-D-Do you think it's…?" Rachel stuttered fearfully, frozen where she stood by her paralyzing fear.

"It's what?" June asked obliviously.

"Do you think that is…" Rachel struggled again.

"For the love of… Just say it!" Grey said impatiently.

"Haunted! There, I said it!" Rachel screamed. Grey immediately doubled over with laughter and even June had to suppress a giggle. Jameson was the only one to show any sympathy for Rachel by not making fun of her fear and instead patting her arm reassuringly.

"Of course not, Rachel. Ghosts are just a myth," he said soothingly.

"Of course it's haunted!" Grey said between laughs. "A house like that's bound to be swarming with Ghost-types! Man, and _I'm_ the dense one? Ha, right!"

"I'd have to agree, Rachel," June said logically. "Ghost-types are proven to have a penchant for dark, scary places." Rachel let out a pathetic-sounding whimper in response and crouched down to hug her knees. Vulpix mewled sadly and nuzzled against her owner's leg in an attempt to calm her down.

Grey finally stopped laughing in order to catch his breath and looked over at the house and said,

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm gonna spend the night there. It's kind of cold out tonight with this wind and I don't really like cold."

"Are you sure that's such a good idea?" Jameson asked warily. "I mean, whatever Pokémon in there are bound to know Dream Eater and have probably been waiting since heaven-knows-how-long for someone to walk into that house."

"I cannot believe you guys are being so paranoid about this," Grey scoffed. "They're just Pokémon and I have Soul, Lucy, and Maverick to protect me if anything happens."

"But, Grey -" Rachel began.

"But nothing, sis. It's getting cold and I need to get out of the cold before I freeze to death. Goodnight, guys," Grey said with a note of finality as he hoisted his bag over his shoulder and walked confidently towards the mansion with Soul faithfully behind him as always.

"Why is he so headstrong?" Jameson growled, his narrowed eyes throwing daggers into Grey's retreating back. "Does he not realize that it's going to get him and the rest of us hurt?"

"He takes after Dad," Rachel sighed in defeat. She almost laughed at the irony in her statement. If Grey didn't take after their dad, then they'd never be here in the first place. She dismissed the thought with a shake of her head and hugged herself tighter. "I'll sleep out here tonight. Anything but going in there."

"I'll go make sure Grey will be okay," June sighed. Finally, Jameson was the only one left with the decision to either go into the mansion or stay outside. He shifted his bag uncomfortably under Rachel's saddening gaze until his conscience got the better of him. He heaved a sigh and sat back down in resignation.

"Thank you," Rachel said with a small smile. She stretched out her legs now, feeling more comfortable with a companion around.

"No prob." Jameson wordlessly released Sniper and Shishi from their Poké Balls in twin flashes of light. The Mantis Pokémon looked around in the darkness confusedly; he was only sent out during the day, so the night sounds that reached his ears were a new phenomenon for him. Jameson's Duskull did quite the opposite; his kind thrived in the dark and he quickly felt at home.

"Guys, could you stand guard tonight?" James asked while he suppressed a yawn and blinked sleepily. His Pokémon nodded an affirmative and took to opposite sides of James and Rachel to stand guard.

"Thanks, guys," James smiled.

"Vulpix, you want to go help them?" Rachel asked. Vulpix looked at her owner with half-lidded eyes, clearly unwilling to get up and stay awake all night, but she obliged nonetheless. She got up, stretched, and padded her way over to Sniper and sat by his leg. "Thanks, girl. I'll make this up to you tomorrow, okay?"

"Vul vul," the Fire-type yawned.

* * *

_Oi. Oi, Gengar, come over 'ere, _Banette urged as she surveyed two humans, a Charmander, and a Furret foolishly waltz into their haunted abode. A devilish grin broke across Banette's yellow zipper of a mouth at the prospect of finally having some decent entertainment. Gengar floated over and didn't even need an explanation. One look at his targets and he immediately knew what Banette was thinking.

_Party time? _he asked evilly.

_Party time,_ Banette confirmed. She flew over to the other Ghost-types congregating in the dining hall and cleared her throat loudly. Banette immediately commanded the attention of all her fellow Pokémon and said,

_Ladies 'n gents, we've got ourselves a couple o' 'umans out there. What say you we give 'em a proper welcome? _There was a unanimous agreement among the ghosts, all of whom thought it'd be a welcome change of pace to the way things had been going for them as of late.

_Good,_ Gengar said maliciously. His mood completely changed at the prospect of some fun. _Here's what we do. Y'all Gastly go over and lay down the basic stuff. Take Froslass with you for dramatic effect and Banette and I will plan everything else. Got it?_

_Yes, sir! _the Gastly group chorused before phasing through the walls to carry out the task set unto them.

"Alright," Grey said. He surveyed the foyer lazily, looking for a place to set down his bag and get to sleep. Nothing fancy; maybe a couch or a recliner he could nap in. "See anywhere you'd like to sleep?"

"Furret," Rosewood muttered disgustedly. She could feel the dust in the mansion's air clinging to her pristine fur and shuddered at the thought of being dirty. Being in a place that was in such shambles made her skin crawl. It was dark and musty with dust particles taking up most of the airspace; paintings of past owners with mold growing on them hung on walls where the wallpaper was peeling off in great patches; broken chairs and desks were strewn everywhere without care as far as one could see, which really wasn't that far at all. It was like Rosewood was living something out of one of her nightmares.

"Ret, ret, Furret," she whined, pointing towards the exit.

"Rosewood, I can't leave you all alone out there," June said adamantly. "You can go back in your ball if you want to." Rosewood shook her head eagerly at the suggestion and pushed the button on the Poké Ball that was clipped to Juniper's belt herself. She became engulfed in red light before getting absorbed back into her red and white sanctuary.

"She's a real neat freak, huh?" Grey laughed.

"You've got no clue," Juniper giggled. She took tentative steps forward, carefully surveying the mansion with a critical eye. The old, maggot eaten floors were riddled with holes and creaked with age as she walked. Juniper kept her pen and clipboard close, just waiting for a Ghost-type Pokémon to come bursting out of the walls so she could study it. Grey and Soul, however, were just looking for a place to turn in for the night, preferably a warm one. The dynamic duo wandered into the living room, where they found a large and comfortable looking couch. Grey ran up to it and jumped right in, finding it to be to his liking.

"Now that's what I'm talking about," he sighed contentedly.

"Char-man-der," Soul agreed as he sank into the plush upholstery. The fire lizard curled up into a tight ball so that his tail flame touched the tip of his nose and let out a long yawn.

"Hey!" June cried suddenly, shocking Grey awake while Soul was completely unaffected.

"Wh-what?" Grey stuttered.

"Why's Soul not burning the couch?" she shouted excitedly, pointing an accusatory finger at the Pokémon. "Maybe it's because this stuff is flameproof? Or maybe Pokémon-generated flames can't… No, that's not it," she said quickly.

"June, you're doing it again," Grey deadpanned. "How're you going to get any sleep?"

"Sleep? Ha! Who can sleep with such a fascinating event going on right in front of their eyes?" Juniper declared enthusiastically. She put her face right up to Soul's flame and tore off a small corner of her paper before placing it directly above Soul's flame. The Charmander snorted and turned up the heat, his fire consuming the paper in an instant.

"Oooh!" June cried. "Can he maybe…?"

"Maybe what?" Grey questioned slowly. "Control his fire?"

"Yes! Exactly! How'd you know?" Juniper asked feverishly.

"Because I trained him from a baby," Grey laughed. "I don't know if it's the same for all Charmander, but Soul can make it so that he won't burn something if he doesn't want to."

"That is incredible! Where are my notes on Ponyta? It's been proven that they can do the same thing; maybe ALL Fire-types can! Thanks, Grey!" Juniper exclaimed, pulling out her pen and scrawling faster than the wind.

"Um, no problem?" Grey wracked his brains to try and figure out what'd just happened. With June, that task proved a difficult one. Now if only he could ignore the cold in the room, he'd be able to think better.

Wait… Cold?

Grey went into the mansion in order to avoid the cold and it proved to be warmer inside. Maybe a window was open? Grey tested the air by letting out a long breath out and watched as it became visible in the cold air. Something was definitely up.

"June, is it cold in here or is it just me?" he inquired. He looked around to see that the Professor-in-training was nowhere to be found, most likely having wandered off to do more research. It was just him and Soul in the room, and the temperature was beginning to drop faster. " June?… I think I'm getting goosebumps."

"Char…" Soul expressed obvious irritation at the temperature change. It had been perfect before and now the infernal cold had been let in again.

"So it isn't just me," Grey deduced.

_Of course not, silly boy. You shouldn't have wandered in heeeere~ _a disembodied voice sang in his head.

"Who's there?" Grey asked, bolting up and placing a hand on Lucy's Poké Ball. He knew full well that there was a Pokémon in the room, otherwise he would never have heard the voice in his head of all places. Either way, Grey was scared and his brain tried to rationalize the situation by blaming his sister for the voice. "Rachel, I swear, if this is a joke -"

_Rachel? Who's Rachel? _the voice laughed. _There is no Rachel here._ Soul shifted uncomfortably in the couch and let out a low, threatening growl. His instincts told him that there was going to be a fight and, normally, it'd be something he'd look forward to. But this kind of fight was the kind where Grey might get hurt and Soul would _not_ stand for that.

"Then who _is_ here?" Grey asked, narrowing his eyes.

Instantly, out of the floor came a white figure with arms growing out of the sides of its head and a small body with what seemed to be a red sash tied around its midsection. The room seemed to get even darker as menacing yellow and ice blue eyes glowed in a particularly potent Leer accompanied by a Powder Snow that blew around the Froslass for an even more spine-chilling effect.

_We are! _Froslass screeched, throwing her hands forward and causing her Powder Snow to fly into Grey and Soul with Psychic. Grey stood rooted to the spot, covering his eyes with his arm as his jacket's hood whipped about in the powerful miniature blizzard. Soul stood steadfast next to his Trainer and made his flame grow in anger.

"You think this scares us?" he shouted confidently over the howling wind. "It'll take a lot more than that to -"

Another Ghost Pokémon burst out of the ground in front of Grey, her amber eyes shining demonically, mouth wide open in use of an earsplitting cry of

"Ba-_NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETTE!_" The Marionette Pokémon's Screech attack made Grey's blood run colder than ice and he screamed a fear-fuelled and fear-inducing scream of his own. With Soul's falsetto in the background, it made for beautiful music and entertainment for the female ghost duo.

Grey wasted absolutely no time picking Soul up and blazing out of the room as fast as he could force himself to go.

Both Froslass and Banette broke out in raucous laughter at Grey's reaction; the two of them hadn't seen such a reaction in such a long time that they'd nearly forgotten how good it felt to illicit one of that magnitude.

_How far d'you think 'e'll run? _Banette guffawed.

_Halfway to the next town if we're lucky! _Froslass shouted with laughter. _I wonder how Haunter's doing_, she thought aloud as her laughter died down. Banette smirked. She had a pretty good idea of how the Gas Pokémon was fairing.

Juniper found herself in the mansion's equally dilapidated kitchen. Nearly everything in the fridge was about ten years past it's date of expiration and, man, did it reek to high heaven. June stifled a cough and hastily closed the refrigerator door too continue looking around. So far she'd found goose egg in the Ghost-type department, which really disappointed her. Ghost-types were known to be some of the most unusual Pokémon to have ever been studied and she wanted to experience that for herself. How many girls her age got to study this rare type of Pokémon in their natural habitat? If there was going to be a list for this, Juniper wanted to be the first name at the very top of it. She puffed out her cheeks in annoyance and huffed, annoyed.

"Come on," she said, bemoaning her luck. "I have got to be the only person who can walk into a house like this and not find any Ghost-types. And Grey said this place is swarming with them."

Just then, Juniper heard a scream that sounded a lot like it belonged to her headstrong, bespectacled friend. She turned around in confusion, wondering what could've frightened the normally bold Grey so thoroughly. Her face lit up as a thought entered her head.

"Maybe it was a Ghost-type! Hang on, Grey; I will be there soon!" she declared, running back towards the door that lead back to the living room. As soon as she was a step away from the door, it slammed closed and she crashed into it face first. Juniper fell back on her bottom and rubbed her nose gingerly.

"Owowowow…" she whined. "What was that for?"

"Gaaaaaastly…" came a moan from behind her. Her steel-colored eyes grew to the size of apples and she whirled around to come face to face with the infamous Gas Pokémon.

"Oh, wow!" Juniper exclaimed, grabbing her pen and clipboard from the floor and getting in close to the Gastly. Instantly, her lungs were bombarded with residual poison gas flowing off the ghost. She immediately pulled back, admonishing herself for forgetting that Gastly are part-Poisons.

"That was unpleasant," June coughed. "But, nonetheless, now I can -"

"Gassssst…ly!"

"Gastly…"

"GAAAAStly…!"

Three more Gastly materialized out of the floor and began to circle around Juniper like they were playing Ring around the Rosie. More and more of their species started showing up through the ceiling, door, wall, floor, and refrigerator to form a wall of Gastly, all moaning and wailing in different pitches. Being as naïve as she was, Juniper thought the Gastly weren't trying to box her in like they were obviously doing and were instead only playing with her.

"One at a time, you guys; I can only write so fast," she muttered, not looking up from her clipboard as she scrawled. One of the Gastly reached out and snatched the clipboard from her. "Hey, I need that!" she yelled.

"Haunt haunt." The clipboard was handed back to her and she smiled at the Gastly. Only, when she opened her eyes, she did not see a Gastly before her. The Gastly were all still spinning in formation, creating their ghostly wall. Standing before her was a Haunter, its tongue lolling out of its mouth and a perverted grin on its face. Shocked into silence, Juniper looked down to see Haunter's floating hands dangerously close to her chest. She let out a high pitched scream and, with total disregard to the Gastly wall, ran right through it while swinging her clipboard around like a baseball bat. As her screams faded and moved towards the center of the house, Haunter and his Gastly crew burst out laughing.

_The girls are always the easiest, boys, remember that,_ he chuckled. _Now, let us give chase._

* * *

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"

"CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!"

Grey's scream ripped through the night air like the claws of an enraged Ursaring and violently roused James and Rachel from their sleep. Vulpix was also awoken, but she was able to keep her composure unlike her human partner. Sniper immediately snapped to attention, blades at the ready, while Shishi readied a Shadow Ball next to him.

"James?" Rachel asked fearfully.

"Yeah?"

"Please, please, _please_ tell me that we didn't just hear Grey and his Charmander screaming like something was attempting to eat their souls," Rachel said, her voice rising in both pitch and speed as she spoke.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAaaa…" came Juniper's embarrassed shriek.

"Would you feel better if I replaced Soul and Grey with Juniper?" James asked in his best attempt at calming humor. He sighed, knowing what he was going to say next would not sit well with the Pokémon Ranger. "You know we have to go in there after them, right?"

Rachel shook her head furiously. "No way," she said. "Grey and June went in there on their own, so they can get out on their own!"

"Come on; quit being such a little baby!" James yelled, fed up with this sibling rivalry Rachel and Grey had going. "You're a Pokémon Ranger! You were trained to take on much worse than this and, furthermore, he's your brother!" Rachel let her head down in shame. James grabbed his backpack and motioned for his Pokémon to follow him into the mansion.

"If you won't help him, then I guess I'll have to." Rachel watched as Jameson was engulfed by the darkness that that old house seemed to radiate and sighed heavily. Some 'fearless' Ranger she was. Not even willing to take on her fears for her own brother.

"Okay," Grey panted. "We just heard June scream, so she must've seen that Banette and Froslass, too. We gotta get out of here, Soul."

_Don't think so, _Gengar said, his evil grin evident in the voice that filled Grey's head.

"Soul, tell me you didn't hear that," Grey sighed.

"Charmander," _Unfortunately,_ Soul growled with increasing anger. From behind them, Gengar phased through the wall, a Shadow Ball attack forming in his hands. The other Pokémon may've gotten their kicks from torturing their targets, but her preferred to battle. The Gas Pokémon launched the attack with glee, laughing as it exploded at Grey and Soul's feet just as they turned around, sending dust, dirt, and splinters up into the musty air.

_Oh! Strike one, human and Charmander! _he laughed, rolling around in the air. The sound of a Poké Ball opening was heard, followed by an explosion of silver light.

"Lucy, Aqua Jet!"

"Bui~!" Lucy grunted as she rocketed out of the dust in her water sheath and slammed into Gengar's stomach. Gengar was sent reeling and straightened himself out. A crazy grin broke across the Ghost-type's ever-smiling face and he formed another Shadow Ball.

"Gen, Gengar?" _So, you want to fight? _he questioned, staring down Grey and his two Pokémon. They stared back with equal animosity. _Good; I've been waiting a _long_ time for a battle. Shadow Ball!_

Lucy, Soul, and Grey all jumped out of the way of the incoming attack, the two Pokémon awaiting an order from their Trainer.

"Okay, Maverick's too big to use in a place like this, so these two are my first line of defense," Grey analyzed. "Gengar's a Ghost-type and they're only weak to their own type and Dark-type attacks. Soul knows mostly Fire-attacks, so… Lucy! Pursuit! Soul, Dragon Rage!"

Soul's eyes flashed for a split second before he launched the crackling orb of dragon energy at Gengar. Lucy followed his lead, covering herself in a black aura and flinging herself into Gengar's face. Soul's attack connected and exploded, scattering Gengar's poisonous gas and mixing it with the air, prompting Grey to cover his mouth and nose with his arm. Lucy hit a second later, causing double the damage due to Gengar's type disadvantage. Gengar only grinned and laughed, clearly able to keep going despite the assault. He made a pained hacking sound as if he were preparing a snot wad before cannoning out a glowing purple blob of poison.

The Sludge Bomb attack nearly hit Soul but instead impacted the maggot-eaten hardwood floors before proceeding to eat through it like acid. A small splash of the sludge made its way onto Lucy's fur and ate through that, touching her skin and burning it. Lucy's upper lip curled in a snarl and she fired off a Water Gun. Gengar did a midair flip and dodged before hacking up another Sludge Bomb, this one aimed at Grey.

Grey's hazel eyes widened for a split second before sharpening as his previous Pokémon Ranger training took hold of him. He leapt backwards and watched as the Sludge Bomb repeated the actions of the previous one before his instincts told him to look up. Gengar had just launched a Shadow Ball attack towards him just as he'd landed. Grey jumped up and grabbed onto a hole in the ceiling, pulling his body up with him so that he stuck to the ceiling like a Spinarak.

Gengar was just about having the time of his life as he lobbed more and more Shadow Balls at the human who just kept on flipping, ducking, and rolling away from each and every one of them. Gengar had never heard of humans possessing such agility and found it most interesting to test the limits of this particular one's skills. He suddenly felt a stinging pain in his side as he was caught off guard by one of the Charmander's Metal Claw swipes. His gassy composition started to mist; a sign that he was taking a bit too much damage and needed to end this quickly. Gengar concentrated on his fist, channeling his Ghost-type energy into it and throwing a punch at the human. A shadowy replica of his fist shot out and nailed the human square in the stomach in mid-flip, throwing him clear across the room and into an empty china cabinet. Gengar laughed, only to be silenced by a brutal Water Gun to the face by Buizel followed by an enraged Ember attack from Charmander that ignited the flammable gasses in his body. Gengar felt his body heat up as it became tangible.

Grey dug himself out of the wreckage of the china cabinet, ignoring his bruises and wrenching a two-by-four from the dented framework. He ran at Gengar and jumped at the last second, slamming the wooden pole into the ghost Pokémon's face and sending it straight through the floor. The dazed Gengar pulled itself back up from the basement just in time to receive an Ember-Pursuit combo and fall into unconsciousness.

"Sorry I had to do that, Gengar, but you were asking for it," Grey said, wiping his mouth free of dust. "So, guys, a good amount of experience, right?"

"Charmander!" Soul flexed his tiny muscles and grinned, his tail flame flaring in size once, twice, three times. Lucy nodded and gave a small smile of her own.

"Good, now let's go find June and get the heck out of here," Grey suggested. Soul and Lucy nodded, completely on board with the idea.

Juniper was currently holed up in the mansion's library, huddled in a corner with her Grovyle, Sylva, out as protection. The Wood Gecko Pokémon stood sentinel over her Trainer, daring any Ghost-types to come out and attempt to cause Juniper harm. June had also noticed that the mansion had taken a nosedive in the temperature department because her and Sylva's breaths rose in a silver mist.

A Shuppet suddenly burst through the wall and put itself in close quarters with Juniper's face. The girl shrieked and covered her face with her hair out of fear. The Shuppet laughed a raspy, scratchy laugh before it was effectively knocked out by Sylva's Leaf Blade attack.

"Thanks, Sylva," Juniper whimpered.

"Gro," the Grass-type nodded.

"June?" came Jameson's voice. June snapped to attention.

"June, you're in here, right?"

"Yes!" she called back. "In the library!" James's footsteps were heard getting closer and closer before June herself threw open the door. The boy in blue bumped into the klutzy girl, backed up apologetically and gestured out the door. Sniper and Shishi moved to the side.

"We should get out of here. I think I heard Grey a ways back battling another Pokémon."

"Grovyle?" Sylva inquired.

"Is he alright?" June asked concernedly. James nodded.

"Of course; I heard that Gengar go down like a sack of bricks," he smiled. His face quickly changed to one of thought as he said, "But, I think… I heard him hit something with a weapon. Like a board or something. Can you even do that to Ghost-types?"

"Remind me to research that later," June whined. "I just want out of here, now!"

"Right, just let me -" Jameson began.

"Scy! Scyther!" Sniper called, taking a battle stance as the horde of Gastly and one Haunter wailed and moaned and floated their way towards their new favorite toy. The girl in question fearfully hid herself behind Jameson and pointed at the head Haunter.

"That one! Knock it out!" she ordered.

"I was just about to," James said with a small smile. He adjusted his stance to mirror that of a seasoned general, his eyes taking on a calm, alert look. Crossing his arms in front of him, Jameson's order came steady and confident. "Shishi, Shadow Ball and spread it out. Sniper, X-Scissor on Haunter."

The order was heard and executed without fail. Shishi conjured up a large Shadow Ball in between his tiny hands and with a great sound of effort, lobbed the ghostly projectile at Haunter. Haunter dodged the attack and watched as his Duskull opponent used Shadow Sneak to appear behind his previously launched attack and strike it with force unbecoming of a Duskull's size. The blow resulted in the Shadow Ball breaking apart into multiple miniature variations of the attack which carpet-bombed his Gastly subordinates. When the smoke from his subordinates' bodies cleared, Haunter saw that all of them were completely unconscious.

Haunter turned back around only to receive a painful X-Scissor attack to the face. Haunter angrily retaliated with a double Shadow Punch which was expertly cut down by Sniper and deftly blocked by Shishi's use of a Will-O-Wisp shield.

"Throw it," James ordered his Duskull simply. Shishi nodded and flung his Will-O-Wisp attack at Haunter. The otherworldly blue flames formed a ring around their target before converging in the center and badly burning the evolved form of Gastly. Haunter wailed in pain, eyes glued shut, so he didn't see Sniper come from behind and land a devastating Pursuit attack which put Haunter out of commission.

Juniper absentmindedly stared as James congratulated and thanked his partners. She played the battle back in her head and noted James's seemingly expert coordination of his Pokémon. It was so foreign compared to the way she'd seen Grey battle, even with the Almian boy's slight change in style. It was like James was on a totally different level, and with only two Pokémon.

"June, let's go," James called from down the hall. In her thought, Juniper had not followed James and his Pokémon down the hall. She started running forward, Sylva faithfully beside her, when she felt something cold and clammy grab onto her ankle. She let out a frightened 'eep!' and turned around to see Haunter, battered and bruised, but still tenacious enough to attempt to keep going and even grin that perverted grin of his.

"Okay, that's it!" Juniper huffed. "Sylva, Energy Ball!" Sylva gave an almost unnoticeable nod and kicked Haunter's hand away while simultaneously forming a crackling ball of nature's energy between her hands. She lobbed the ball at Haunter, causing his gaseous body to deconsolidate before he finally drifted off for real.

"Since when did she learn Energy Ball?" James chuckled.

"I taught her as a Treecko," June replied with a glare over her shoulder at the Haunter. "Didn't really seem right to use it until now. Now, I have a reason." Sylva, James, and Sniper all gave Juniper a confused look. Shishi just looked on ahead with a bored look in his solitary eye and a melancholy sigh to match.

"What'd it do that made you use such a strong move on it?" James asked, voicing the trio's shared thought. Juniper looked back at them over her shoulder, a dangerous glint in her eyes that Jameson could never have expected from her; her, the good natured, slightly klutzy, incredibly eccentric girl of the group.

"Don't…ask…" she ordered threateningly. Shivers ran up the trio's spines at the tone of her voice. "Now, come on. Let's go find Grey and get out of here," June said, threatening tone taking a backseat to a sunny one in an instant.

"She can be scary when she wants to," James noted under his breath.

* * *

The sound of breaking dishes dominated the air in the dining room as Froslass's psychic assault persisted. The Snow Land Pokémon was finding unprecedented amusement in using this unusually agile human and his two Pokémon pets as target practice. Grey ducked as a large serving dish whizzed overhead and crashed into the wall, exploding into thousands of tiny pieces.

"Soul, if we ever manage to find a deserted old mansion that's bound to be crawling with ghost Pokémon again, remind me never to suggest sleeping in it. Can you do that for me, buddy?" Grey asked as he dove out of the way of a Psychically thrown barrage of ancient dishes aimed at his head.

"Char!" Soul grunted as he took flaming potshots at the flying projectiles, blasting them clear out of the air, while Lucy busied herself with Froslass. Soul inwardly congratulated himself and Grey for having improved his aim this far while Lucy launched a Water Gun attack only to have it frozen on the spot by Froslass's Powder Snow. The frozen stream fell to the ground and promptly shattered like one of the dishes.

"Well, what in the hell do we do now?" Grey asked the air through gritted teeth. Finding himself with no time to think, he applied his tried and true method of doing what first came to mind.

"Lucy, Soul, combo attack. She can't focus on you both," he reasoned. Froslass's laughing was cut short.

_Uh-oh, looks like the fun's about to end. Too bad, and everybody was enjoying themselves so well, too, _she sighed.

"You're damn right the fun's over. Soul! Metal Claw!" Grey called, throwing his arm out in Froslass's direction. The little fire lizard flung himself at the dual Ice and Ghost type with gusto, claws glowing silver and arm pulled back. He swiped, but Froslass was able to dodge at the last second by puling her lower body up and floating horizontally above Soul. Froslass put on a smug smirk, but her celebration was cut short by Lucy's well-timed Aqua Jet hitting her right under the chin.

Froslass quickly fell towards the ground and she prepared to phase through it, only to be blasted from out of nowhere by Soul's Ember attack. Grey took this chance to dash forward, grudgingly thanking the Ranger Academy for putting him through all that physical training, and scooped up his two Pokémon as he went. Froslass struggled back up and was met with both Gengar and Banette floating above her.

_They're gettin' away! _Banette cried in despair.

_Ah, let them,_ Gengar grumbled as he rubbed his face in pain. The spot where Grey had brained him with the two-by-four was actually a dent in the ghost's visage by now. _Do you see what that one wearing the red jacket did to my face? My beautiful face…_

_Oh, shut up about yer face, man! We've got ta get our playthings back or we'll be bored for the rest of our lives! Do ye know how 'ow long that is in ghost years? FOREVER! _Banette raved before she desperately charging out the dining room door and after Grey.

_She's insane,_ Gengar pointed out. Froslass said nothing and instead floated back to the dining hall.

Jameson, June, and their Pokémon heard heavy footsteps running towards them and immediately tensed up and stopped in their tracks. They stared into the inky blackness of the mansion to see a bright light making its way towards them and their faces lit up in recognition.

"That's Soul's flame," James breathed thankfully. "Grey, down here!"

"James, that you?" Grey called. "Keep running toward the exit. I think one of them's still following me!" They didn't need to be told twice; they took off like shots at the prospect at another one of those psychotic ghosts toying with them again.

They ran as a group, not even bothering to call their Pokémon back into their balls, only focusing on getting out of the mansion before possibly being entrapped in it forever. Grey skidded and made a left into the living room with his companions behind him. He stopped for a moment and hastily looked around until he found the corridor that he'd come through; the corridor that was their ticket out of the crazy ghost-house.

"This way," he shouted, only waiting long enough for his friends to catch up before they sprinted towards the door as one. Soul's tiny legs didn't let him keep up with his friends, so he leapt into the air and latched into Grey's hood, flapping like a rag doll in the wind as his Trainer ran.

The group heard Banette shriek behind them and by the sound of it, she sounded too close for comfort. Shishi spun around, now flying backwards, to see his fellow Ghost-type's blazing yellow eyes light up in the darkness. He turned back around and nodded at his Trainer who instantly understood the message and began to run faster.

"They're closing in!" he relayed to his comrades. "Run faster!" With the moonlight streaming in through the front door in sight, the group put on one last burst of speed and finally left the house, cool night air slapping them in the face. Rachel was sitting right where James had left her with Vulpix at her side, looking happy to see her brother and friends in unharmed aside from Grey's bruises.

Grey held his side and stooped over to catch his breath, making a mental note to revisit some of his old training. Soul released his hood and breathed a sigh of relief as he slumped against Grey's leg. Lucy did the same.

"Are you guys alright?" Rachel asked. "And how'd you get that bruise on your head, Grey?"

"Gengar are sadistic little punks," came her brother's snappish reply. "Sorry, didn't mean to growl. I'm just a bit fed up with Ghost-types at the moment. No offense, Shishi."

"Dus-kull," the sagely Pokémon said dismissively.

"That's alright," Rachel said. "At any rate, can we please get away from this house now -" Rachel's question was cut down by Banette's shrieking as she rocketed out of the house with a determined, angry look.

"Baaaa!" she yelled, pointing at Grey and Juniper furiously "Banette! Banette! Nette!"

"Grey, what's it saying?" Juniper asked as Sylva took a protective stance in front of her.

"Something about…toys? 'I won't…leave…toys…'" he struggled to decipher Banette's speech. "'I won't let my toys leave', she's saying."

_Since when the hell were we her toys? _Lucy shouted in disbelief.

_Yeah!_ Soul agreed.

"Sniper, go teach her a lesson. Use -"

"No," Rachel said, newfound steel in her words. She defiantly walked forward, Vulpix a bit ahead of her, and stared down Banette. "If you want to start something, start it with me, you stupid ghost!" Banette readied a Dark Pulse in her hands in response. Nothing was going to stand in the way of her and her fun.

Despite the overwhelming fear coursing through her at that very second, Rachel was somehow able to keep her knees from knocking and gave Vulpix one simple order:

"Use Flamethrower." Vulpix raised her head, opened her mouth and formed a raging fireball inside of it. When it became too big to contain, Vulpix threw her head forward, releasing a torrent of flames that crashed into and fully enveloped Banette and forced her back into the house. The Marionette Pokémon's screeches of pain decreased in volume the further Vulpix's flames pushed her back until they were completely inaudible.

Vulpix stemmed the flow of her flames and turned her back to the house, all six tails swishing cheekily. A small smirk formed on her mouth when she saw Soul's shocked face. He'd _never _seen Vulpix use Flamethrower before and, damn, was it powerful. Needless to say, he was impressed and so was Grey.

"Nice one!" James cried.

"Scy ther." _That looked like it hurt,_ Sniper noticed with wide eyes.

"Rachel, that was _amazing_! When did Vulpix learn to do that?" Juniper asked, inquisitive light gracing her eyes once more.

"Sis, that was so totally awesome!" Grey cheered. "I take back most of the stuff I said about you being a wimp. Anyone who can get her Vulpix to do that's okay in my book!"

"Thanks, little brother," Rachel smiled. She even dismissed the 'most' part in his compliment and took it as it came. "Now, please… Let's get out of here." The decision was unanimous; the group gathered their things and went back the way they came, leaving the house behind to stew in its own dust.

"Dusk… Duskull dusk dusk." _Kids… What are you going to do?_ Shishi muttered under his breath, only furthering his old man moniker.

_So, how'd it go? _Gengar asked, stifling his snickers with one hand.

_I take it they reacted well,_ Froslass said sarcastically. She was not as considerate as Gengar and promptly burst out laughing when she finished talking.

Banette was completely covered from head to foot in burns after that Flamethrower and all she wanted to do now was get to sleep and forget this night ever happened. She made a silent vow to herself; she'd find those humans again and, by Arceus, she'd make them pay for her humiliation.

But for now, she'd settle for some Burn Heal.

* * *

**Okay, so I FINALLY got myself a new laptop and let me tell you that it works perfectly. I liked writing this chapter, especially the parts that I intended to be funny. But, now that this is behind us, I can finally start working on the next chapter before Mélange Town. I might work in a few new captures for everyone as well. The one I have in mind for Jameson is most interesting.**

**Lesson 278 of traveling with Pokémon: Never, I repeat, NEVER walk into a house that's clearly haunted by Ghost-types. Unless you want to catch one… Other than that, STAY AWAY!**

**Expect some character development from Rachel and Grey coming soon.**

**I'm still accepting OCs for those of you who're interested. Leave your OC in a review or send a PM. However, don't expect to have your OC automatically put into the story like Jameson was. He was submitted at the right place and at the right time in the story. Plus, I liked his personality and that of his Pokémon.**

**That's all for now. Stay tuned for more and please leave a review!**

**CHAPTER PREVIEW**

**Grey: **Man, am I glad that that's over. Now we can focus on getting to the next town and training, right, Soul?

**Soul:**Charmander!

**Grey: **That's what I like to hear!

**James: **Aren't you forgetting something, Grey? Like the episode preview?

**Grey:** Oh, that! Sorry, getting right on it.

**James:** sigh You need a new route for that one-track mind of yours.

**Grey: **Listen, buddy -

**Juniper:** Guys, quit fighting! Let's just get this done, alright?

**Grey:** Alright, June… Anyway, on the next episode, the four of us reach the second to last area before the next town and the next Gym Battle: Mélange Forest. This place is crawling with Bug-types, even a few rare ones like Combee and Pinsir. We also meet a honey-maker with a Vespiqueen and he has a slight problem to deal with.

**Rachel: **Slight? Look at all those Beedrill and Ursaring after his honey! And he worked so hard to make it, too.

**James:** All the more reason to help him, right? We can't let him get mauled.

**Grey: **But what about the next badge?

**Rachel:** It's our duty as Pokémon Rangers to help anyone in need, Grey. Did you learn anything at all?

**Grey: **I am NOT a Pokémon Ranger! And, fine, but just because this guy's in need of help. After that, it's full speed ahead!

**Rachel: **Fine; whatever floats your boat. …Hey, Grey, can I ask you a favor?

**Grey: **Hm?

**Rachel: **Well, I want to try my hand at -

**James:** Oops! We're out of time guys. They're just going to have to wait until next time to see what lies ahead.

**Grey:** Man, that was cheesy.

**Juniper: **I'd like to see you come up with better, Grey. giggles

**James: **She got you with that one.

**Grey:** Shut up and tell them the chapter title.

**All:** Next time on _Challenger!:_ The Honey-Maker's Dilemma. Enter: Rogue Heracross.

**James: **Sniper, wait! Don't steal that honey!

**Sniper:** Scy!


	10. Enter: Rogue Heracross!

**So, so, so… Looks like we're almost to Mélange Town. Just this one more obstacle and Grey and James are set for their next Gym Battle. …Or ARE they? Well, that's something only I know, so it looks like you guys will have to wait for the next couple of chapters or so. **

**Also, if I could ask my reviewers and current readers a favor, please spread the word about this story if you like it. I've already got a good number of reviews, but I'd like a wider criticism base. Again, if you're already reading this but not reviewing, please do so as it is a bit of an insult to read an author's story and not leave a review (not just to me, but to ALL the authors around here).**

**Disclaimer:** I _**DO NOT**_ own the Pokémon series/franchise. All of that belongs to its rightful owners: Nintendo, Game Freak, and Satoshi Tajiri AKA the greatest man to have ever had an idea for a video game.

KEY:

"normal speech"

"_thought"_

_translated pokémon speech_

"blah blah blah _emphasis _blah blah blah"

**Pokédex Entries**

* * *

**Chapter 10: **The Honeymaker's Dilemma! Enter: Rogue Heracross!

Now that the group was several miles away from the haunted house they'd encountered three nights before, they were in much, much higher spirits than they were before. Grey and James had managed to get some good training in through fighting the trainers they'd run into on the road which also benefited June. As per usual, the girl took great pleasure and interest in studying the battle techniques and pokémon of the passersby.

However, Juniper seemed to fly into a sour mood whenever the events of the haunted house were mentioned. If anyone so much as mentioned the word 'Haunter', she'd fix them with a glare powerful enough to rival an arbok's. When asked about her out of character reaction to the subject, she'd dismiss it with a low growl before returning to her usual bubbly nature.

All in all, things were looking up for the motley crew. The only person who seemed at all displeased was none other than Rachel. She'd mostly kept to herself lately, brooding over how afraid and powerless she was in the face of the Ghost-types until the very end and found herself ashamed of that.

"_For Arceus's sake, I sat there like a brain dead claydol!"_ she screamed in her mind. What Jameson had said didn't do much to boost her spirits, either.

She also counted herself lucky that it was only one banette and not more, otherwise she wouldn't have been as brave as she was. She only had an inexperienced mudkip and a vulpix with her and if it were anything more than that banette, she'd have ended up, as Grey would say, a quivering pile of dog food.

"I need to make a change," she whispered to herself as she sat on the sidelines of Grey's current battle. "I have to…" she gulped, guilt gripping her from all sides; attacking her for even thinking about doing what she had in mind. "I have to do that…"

Vulpix, silently sensing Rachel's anxiety, mewled softly and nuzzled against her leg.

"Thanks, girl," Rachel said, grateful for the Fox Pokémon's consolation. "You'll make this a whole lot easier for me."

"Maverick, give him an Iron Tail!" Grey commanded eagerly, completely immersed in the current battle. His onix responded by commanding a metallic glow to surround his tail before slamming it into the opposing mightyena. Maverick nodded, silently thanking Grey for teaching him the new move.

Mightyena collided with Maverick's tail and skidded across the ground, falling unconscious at its trainer's feet. With that threat out of the way, Grey gave his next command.

"Soul, end this with Dragon Rage!" The young charmander gave a loud battle cry as his eyes flashed and his flame grew before he launched the ball of cracking dragon energy at his enemy, a highly weakened flaafy. The ball exploded on contact, sending the opposing flaafy into the air before it landed unceremoniously next to Mightyena, unable to battle any longer.

"Aww, crap," Grey's opponent groaned. "First Mightyena and now Flaafy… That makes six losses now!"

"Hey, don't feel bad, dude. It was a good game," Grey said with a grin plastered on his face. "If it's any consolation, that Mightyena you've got was crazy fast but it was no match for Maverick," he said proudly, patting the onix's rocky hide.

The boy didn't take it as much of a compliment. It was more Grey applauding his own skills and pokémon.

"You probably would've beaten Soul if it wasn't for him blocking your attacks."

Maverick gave a low rumble of appreciation. He was glad to have come with Grey, but it may have just been the ego-stroking he liked best. Aside from the battles, that is.

"Char char!" Soul shouted indignantly. He huffed proudly; as if he'd ever loose to that mutt.

"Yeah," the boy sighed, paying Grey his prize money. "But I thought after all that training we did in the Mélange Woods, we'd be a sure fire win."

"Hey, that's were we're headed next," Jameson realized. "If it was such good training, do you think you can tell us what kinds of pokémon live there?" The boy nodded. Juniper raced to her bag to get her clipboard and pen, intent on capturing his every word.

"Sure. But let me warn you; the wild ones in there are, like, really powerful," he said, stressing the caution in his voice. "There were obviously tons of Bug-types there. Y'know, the normal caterpie, kakuna, kricketot, and wurmple hanging out in there. But there were also a whole bunch of ursaring there, or at least I think that's what I heard. I didn't go in deep enough to find out."

"Obviously; you don't mess with an ursaring," Grey reasoned with a snort.

"Right," the boy nodded, shooting a slightly annoyed look at Grey before continuing. "Also, I ran into a dude who had a sort of store house there saying that there were butterfree, beedrill, and even a heracross running around stealing from him. He said it was a real problem." Grey, June, and Jameson's ears all pricked up at the mention of the heracross. Capturing, or in Juniper's case, studying such a rare and powerful Bug-type was an opportunity they couldn't pass up.

"Anyway, good luck to you guys. As for me, I'm gonna stay as far away as possible from that forest for a while." With that, the boy took off in the opposite direction.

"Well, are we gonna get going or what?" Grey asked, pocketing his prize money and calling Maverick back into his poké ball.

"Let's," Juniper nodded. She opened up Rosewood and Sylva's poké balls to let them walk beside her. The furret scurried up to take her usual place around June's shoulders while Sylva stuck close to her trainer, cool and composed.

"For once you have a good idea," Jameson said, smirking.

"Don't start with me, Rhodes," Grey warned. James ignored him and grinned eagerly, looking ahead at the forest that seemed to open up invitingly several miles ahead.

"Whatever, man. Just know that once we get to that forest, I'm going to capture that heracross!" he declared.

"In your dreams, buddy," Grey challenged just as eagerly. "That bad boy's mine." Jameson smirked, a devious idea coming to mind.

"Okay, then. We'll make it a contest. Whoever captures the heracross gets treated to a dinner of the winner's choice when we get to Mélange Town. Pokémon get dinner, too, and the loser pays for it. Deal?" He offered his hand to Grey in challenge, a confident smirk on his face.

"You are _so_ on," Grey said, competitive spirit blazing to life in his chest as he grasped Jameson's hand without hesitation.

James retrieved his hand and let both of his pokémon out to walk with him. Sniper yawned and took to lazily flying overhead while Shishi let out an annoyed moan as he settled himself on James's head. Jameson slightly shivered at his duskull's cold touch but quickly got used to it after the initial shock.

"You guys mind cutting the chatter and let us get going?" Juniper joked. Grey nodded and released Lucy from her ball to get going. Rachel silently let Mudkip out of his ball and the youngling immediately took to yipping excitedly.

_Yay, yay, yay! Rachel's back!_ he said happily. He hopped over to Soul and eagerly asked, _Where are we going now, Soul? Huh, huh, huh?_

_That forest, _Soul said with a grin. _If everything goes right, we'll have a new friend._

_Yay! New friend; new friend! _Mudkip sang all the way back into Rachel's arms. Soul took his usual place on Grey's right shoulder while Lucy climbed up onto his head, both pointing towards the Mélange Woods.

"There's no way we're gonna lose to James, buddy," Grey said to his charmander. He clenched his fist confidently and broke out into a run. "That heracross is _mine_!" Jameson scrambled after him not wanting to fall behind so quickly. Atop his head, Shishi complained about the bouncing he felt whenever James's feet hit the ground. He could already tell that this day was not going to go well.

* * *

"Oh, come on! Not again!" the man yelled, throwing his hat to the ground in frustration. He let out a huge sigh and ran a hand through his blonde hair. "That's the third damn time this week!"

The combee that surrounded him made mournful buzzing sounds at the sight of their damaged home and his vespiqueen was by no means pleased. She was using every last bit of her energy to control her anger and not lash out at the next thing that moved. The home that her owner had built for her was again damaged by none other than the local population and, at this point, she wanted nothing more than to go out there and beat some sense into those…those… Vespiqueen was so mad, she couldn't even find a word to describe the ones who'd done this.

Her owner's heart sank like a lead balloon as he surveyed the damage. The giant honeycomb that he'd built in the clearing he stood in - his pride and joy and crowning achievement - lay in veritable shambles. There were claw marks nearly everywhere from the ursaring breaking their way into it. Most of the honey buckets and jars were broken with the lucky few only being strewn across the ground and the east wall had a giant hole busted right through it.

"No doubt from that damned heracross," he muttered venomously. Pieces of the structure lay scattered across the forest floor and nearly every board that comprised of the ceiling was destroyed. It would take him weeks to repair everything and by that time, all of the honey that he and his pokémon worked so hard to make would have been gone; consumed by the butterfree, beedrill, ursaring, and that lone heracross.

"Well, guys," he sighed, "looks like I'm going to have to rebuild. Again." Vespiqueen shook her head vehemently and placed one of her claws on her owner's shoulders consolingly.

"Well, what can I do, Vespiqueen? This is just going to happen again and I don't have the money to hire guards or the time to catch other pokémon and raise them to defend the honeycomb," he said dejectedly. "We're better off moving somewhere else." At this, all twenty combee in his possession expressed their objections, making it clear that they had no intention of moving at all.

"Sorry, guys. But we're going to have to. This can't keep going on," the man said resignedly. "Now, help me salvage what's left of the honey so we can get out of here." The man's pokémon sadly followed the order and ventured into the wrecked honeycomb to scrape whatever meager amount of honey still existed on the walls.

By then, Grey and Jameson were locked in their bet, both searching for the heracross. The two of them were a ways ahead of the girls in their search. So far, both of them had turned up with no evidence and Grey was beginning to get impatient. Jameson, however, kept a level and patient head while having Sniper search by air above him.

"This should knock Grey down a peg or two," the boy in blue snickered deviously. "Then we'll see who the better trainer is. Once I find that heracross, it is game over for him and I get to chow down at his expense."

"You think that they're maybe taking this a little bit too far?" June asked innocently as they moved through the forest.

"Gro-vyle," Sylva shrugged, not really caring who won. Chances were that neither would and that they'd make fools out of themselves. In all honesty, Sylva was banking on that to happen. It was amusing to her, how these humans reacted to losing one of their childish wagers.

"I mean, I don't think that either of them has a good chance of catching it; at least not at their current level," Juniper continued.

"Mhm…" Rachel hummed absentmindedly as she took in the scenery, lost in a swamp of her thoughts. The forest was almost unusually thick with foliage. So much so that most of the sunlight that normally would've come down as a soft gold from in between the leaves of the trees was actually turned a light green. The mingling of the yellow and green light was giving the whole area a calm, peaceful look that practically screamed 'nature'. Their footsteps made rustling sounds as they moved through the thick, leafy underbrush and mingled nicely with the assorted warbling cries of the taillow and starly perched in the higher branches.

Naturally, caterpie and wurmple and weedle all hung from those same trees, dozing in the sun and completely unafraid of the threat of the bird pokémon. There was even one tree completely covered in the bronze cocoons of what must have been over a hundred kakuna. Rachel made a mental note to stay _very_ far away from that tree at all costs.

But none of this beautiful scenery even registered a blip on the proverbial radar for Rachel; she was much too deep in her thoughts. She had, by some freak whim of the Legendaries, considered taking a page out of Grey's book and catching a pokémon or two to train alongside Vulpix and Mudkip so she'd be able to fend for herself. At least until she found a way out of the Silver Ring. The idea was indeed a good one and she could always train with Grey and Jameson to learn the basics.

But no matter how good the idea sounded, a combination of her ranger training and her own conscience told her not to do it. Back in Almia, Pokémon Rangers and even civilians were strictly forbidden from carrying poké balls. Rangers specifically were not allowed to train any other pokémon besides their designated partner so as to build a lasting bond of trust between ranger and pokémon. It just simply was not done, which is why Rachel felt a pang of guilt whenever she felt Mudkip's poké ball inside her pocket and why she felt anger and a feeling being betrayed when she thought of Grey having become a trainer.

On the other hand, Rachel couldn't rely on her little brother, James, and June to protect her for the entire trip. Both her pride and her conscience vehemently protested it. There was really only one option for Rachel now and that was to catch a pokémon and train it alongside her current two.

"It looks like I'm going to have to swallow my pride on this one," she said softly.

"What was that?" June asked, startling Rachel out of her thoughts.

"Eep!" she squeaked, jumping a bit in surprise. She nearly displaced Vulpix from her perch on her head, eliciting an annoyed mewl from the Fire-type, and almost woke up Mudkip. Good thing the little one was such a heavy sleeper.

"Oh, Juniper," Rachel breathed. "You scared me."

"Is there something wrong?" June asked with a look of concern. Rosewood's expression mirrored that of Juniper's and even Sylva showed some interest. Rachel sighed and said,

"It's just…" she began, struggling to find the words. "I can't…use you guys as a crutch as long as I'm traveling with you, y'know?"

"What do you mean by that?" June turned her red head to the side, steel colored eyes wide with interest. Rachel looked down embarrassedly, her pink hair forming a curtain over her face as she traced in the dirt with her foot.

"I mean I can't keep traveling with you, my brother, and James and not pull my own weight in the battle department. And, so, I was thinking…" she mumbled, leaving her sentence up in the air.

"Thinking…?" Juniper urged.

"This goes against everything I believe in, but…" Rachel bowed her head, clenched her eyes shut, and forced out the words. "June, will you please teach me to catch a pokémon?" June's eyes widened and her mouth formed an 'o' as she finally understood.

"So you're finally giving in, huh, sis?" Grey laughed before Juniper could say anything. He had momentarily put his search for Heracross on pause. If his sister was finally going to admit that he was right for once and ask for his help, he wanted a front row seat to watch her beg.

"Char char?" Soul asked confusedly, looking up at Lucy for an answer.

"Bui," Lucy grunted, not caring one way or the other.

"You want to catch and train a pokémon so that, in the event that you personally get assaulted, you can defend yourself?" Juniper confirmed. Soul, having gotten his answer, tried and failed to contain the smirk on his face. "Well, that's not so bad. Why are you acting so shy about it?"

"Because," Grey interjected, "my saint of a sister knows it's 'against the rules for a Pokémon Ranger to be in possession of or use a poké ball of any kind'." The glee in his voice when he mimicked the words Rachel had said countless times before was barely restrained. "Oh, this is just too perfect." Soul covered his mouth to hide a snicker.

"Shut up, Grey," Rachel growled. Vulpix breathed a little warning flame to back up her owner while Mudkip still dozed. "This is only a temporary thing so I can defend myself. It's not like I like breaking the rules. Unlike you."

"Ow, my poor little feelings," Grey deadpanned. Ignoring him, Rachel turned to June, an imploring look on her face.

"So will you help me, June?" she asked, letting her hazel eyes get shiny to back up her request.

"Well, I would," Rachel's spirits immediately deflated, "but I've never really caught a pokémon before," Juniper admitted with some embarrassment.

"What about Rosewood?" Grey asked, pointing to the furret in question.

"She was a gift from mom as a sentret," Juniper explained.

"But if you can't teach me," Rachel started, dreading the other option, "then that means…" She looked over at Grey, already regretting having ever opened her mouth. A smug smirk formed on Grey's lips as he offered a hand to his big sister in triumph.

"Welcome to class, sis. Your first lesson starts now."

"Why me?" Rachel whined.

"Hey, Grey, do you _want_ to lose this bet or what? Get back over here and start looking if you don't!" James called from his position in the bushes.

"Scy scyther!" Sniper called from above.

"In a second! Let me enjoy this a bit more," Grey said, laughing and relishing the rare position of power he was in.

"Enjoy wha- Is that a vespiqueen?" James shouted. Grey's focus was immediately shifted. He whirled around in James's direction, almost displacing his two passengers, and slid next to his rival to observe this said vespiqueen. Sniper landed next to James with a dull thud.

"Where; where is it?" Grey whispered excitedly.

"Over there," Jameson said eagerly, pointing a finger in the rare Bug-type's direction.

"Over there?" Grey looked in the completely opposite direction. Shishi gave another one of his sighs, grabbed onto Grey's head, and turned it in the right direction. Shaking off the eerily cold feeling of being touched by a ghost, Grey's eyes widened as he got a good look at the Beehive Pokémon. Taking his Pokédex out and pointing it at the vespiqueen, Grey let the machine produce the information.

**Vespiqueen, the Beehive Pokémon. A strictly female species, Vespiqueen is the evolved form of a female combee. Males are incapable of evolving. This pokémon is well known for commanding massive swarms of its pre-evolution, even housing and giving birth to infant combee within her lower body. Vespiqueen are waited on hand and foot by their followers, but will exhibit surprising strength when threatened. Vespiqueen is protective, maternal, and highly aggressive, but shows a hidden soft spot for the delicious honey produced by her colony.**

"That's amazing!" Grey whispered. He reached for his belt to pull out an empty poké ball but stopped when he saw a blonde-haired man dressed in an orange shirt and overalls, several combee swarming around him. "Oh, wait, we can't catch her. She has a trainer."

Jameson noticed this as well and put away his ball with a sigh. "Ah, well, I only came here for Heracross, anyway. Let's keep looking, Sniper. …Sniper?"

The boy in blue's eyes widened exponentially. His scyther had vanished without a trace and he knew that could never, _ever_ end well for him. The mischievous mantis was known for always getting into some kind of trouble when left alone.

"Augh! No; that's the last of my honey! Get away, you damned scyther!"

"And there it is," Jameson sighed, Shishi sighing along with him. He looked over in the vespiqueen trainer's direction to see none other than his scyther buzzing around a giant wooden honeycomb, scraping honey off the walls with his scythes and licking it off greedily. Vespiqueen and her combee servants were angrily buzzing around their fellow Bug-type, throwing attacks his way to try and get him away from their honey. Every time they did, Sniper would just fly off to another part of the wall and continue eating.

"Wait, don't hurt him!" James shouted, bursting out of his hiding spot and rushing over to stop Sniper from getting into any more trouble.

Grey stifled a laugh and motioned for the girls to follow him with a wave of his hand. Rachel whined but followed after Juniper to see what all of the commotion was. Mudkip was roused from his sleep and looked around with a look of groggy confusion.

_Whu…? What's going on? _Mudkip yawned.

_Probably something stupid,_ Vulpix reasoned cynically. _Honestly, can those boys go at least one day without getting into some kind of trouble?_

_Probably not, _Sylva said with a shrug. She gave a light laugh and followed the boys, slightly interested as to what mess they'd gotten into now.

"Hey!" James shouted. He rushed down the hill, waving his arm to gain the man's attention and sliding to a stop at the bottom. "Hey, listen, I'm real sorry. Sniper just has a bad sweet tooth; he really didn't mean it."

"It's alright," the man sighed. "There wasn't really much left anyway. But, still, could you get your pokémon down?" He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder in Sniper's direction. The scyther now had his head buried in the delicious golden goo that adorned the wall, greedily eating it by the mouthful.

"Sorry," James repeated. "Sniper, get back down here!" Sniper dug his head out of the honey pile and ashamedly flew back down to James's side, head covered in honey.

"Dude, Sniper's got one hell of a sweet tooth," Grey noted as he slid down the hill, the girls right behind him. "Sorry about that," he said to the man in overalls. "We just came here looking for a heracross. You seen one around here?" The man's face darkened and he clenched his fist at the mention of Heracross. His pokémon's buzzing increased in volume and anger.

"Yeah, I've seen one," he spat bitterly. "It's one of the pokémon living here that keeps eating my honey stores. Thanks to it and the others, I'm gonna have to move my entire set-up somewhere else. My name's Danny, by the way."

Rachel took one look at the honeycomb Danny built and winced at the damage. "One heracross did all of this?" Mudkip jumped out of her arms to gawk at the ruined honeycomb.

_Big hole, _he noted. From her perch, Rosewood gave a silent, awed nod of agreement.

"One heracross, a swarm of beedrill, and about ten ursaring," Danny sighed. "I've tried setting traps and stuff to keep them away, but this is the third time this has happened. I'm at my wit's end." His head pounded thinking of all the money he spent on Max Repels in an effort to keep the combs safe.

Shishi shook his head in disbelief. _The nerve of some pokémon, ruining this man's hard work. Have they no shame? _he muttered in the wispy voice of an old man.

_Apparently not, _Lucy replied. _I'd hate to tangle with the ursaring that made _those_ claw marks._ She pointed at a set of gashes that ran deep into the wood.

_Speak for yourself,_ Soul said with a grin. _That sucker'd make for a great fight._

"Wow, the pokémon here must really like honey," June noted. "Do you have any way to defend this place?"

"I just got finished telling Vespiqueen," Danny said, pointing to the Beehive Pokémon currently in the honeycomb ordering her combee around, "that I don't have the money to hire guards or the time to train new pokémon. I'm still going to school on top of tending to the honey; it's how I pay tuition, on top of other expenses."

"Well, maybe we could help," Rachel offered with a sunny look. "See, I'm a Pokémon Ranger from Almia and we always make a point of helping anybody in need. We could stay the night or maybe make it so the pokémon around here won't steal from you anymore."

"Vul vulpix," Vulpix nodded in agreement.

"You'd help a total stranger?" Danny asked, his face lighting up with gratitude.

"Yeah, sure," James smiled. "It's no big deal. We could hang out here, maybe help you rebuild a bit and then go out to drive off any pokémon that come by looking for a free meal. What do you say, June?"

"Sounds like a good idea," the redhead smiled. "Sylva makes a good guard and Rosewood can be a lookout."

"Fur ret!" Rosewood saluted, turning her face into a stalwart mask of professionalism.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait!" Grey protested. "What about Mélange Town? What about my next Gym Badge? We can't spend an entire day in here; it'll set us back! Plus, I still have to teach Rachel to catch a pokémon and capture Heracross!"

"Grey, how could you say that?" Rachel admonished. "He needs help and as a Pokémon Ranger -"

"I keep telling you that I am _not_ a ranger," Grey cut in, growling. "And I am gonna catch Heracross. There's no way I'm paying for Jameson's dinner."

"Good luck with catching it," Danny snorted. "That heracross is unbelievably wily. It's somehow gotten past every trap I set and eats the most honey out of all of them."

"Which is exactly why I want it on my team," Grey said with a nod.

"Come on, Grey, don't be such a jerk. I bet it won't even take that long. We can be out of the forest by tonight if we work fast," Jameson said in his most convincing voice. "Danny really needs some help here. We can at least help him save what's left of the honey."

"Scy?" Sniper asked excitedly.

"No more for you," Jameson deadpanned.

"Argh, fine," Grey resigned. "I'll help; I'll help. No need to twist my arm on this. But first, let's go, Rae. Time for your lesson." He walked over to his big sister and grabbed her wrist, dragging her over to another part of the forest. Vulpix, Mudkip, and Lucy followed behind them.

"What is his problem?" Danny asked James. James sighed, shooting a look at Grey's retreating back.

"Long story short, he's really impatient and likes to rush things. Honestly, he needs to grow up and lose the attitude," he said contemptuously.

"I guess so," Danny shrugged. "Come on; grab a honey bucket and let's get started."

"Right," James said, hoisting a bucket over his head. "June, let's get started."

"In a second; this is too much fun!" June called from above. James looked up to see the giggling redheaded researcher being carried through the air by Danny's combee swarm while Vespiqueen conducted their path. "You have to try this, James!"

"Maybe some other time," the boy laughed.

* * *

Heracross was just about fed up with this situation. There he was, minding his own business sucking on some tree sap, when who should appear and ruin his fun but the leader of the ursaring pack. Ursaring had demanded that Heracross move away from the oran tree to allow him to pick some berries. Heracross ignored Ursaring. Having dealt with the pokémon before, he knew that Ursaring was more of an annoyance to him than a threat.

Unsurprisingly, Ursaring became violent.

The Hibernator Pokémon angrily climbed up the tree and knocked Heracross away from his meal with a strong blow before going on to greedily hoard berries for himself. Heracross was usually like the rest of his species: calm and aversive to confrontation. But when attacked first, he couldn't just sit around and take it.

Heracross flared his wings and positioned himself downward, aiming his horn at the oran tree. He pushed off the ground with his powerful legs and a grunt of effort, ramming the tree with all his might, his horn's power backed by the force of his push. Ursaring fell out of the tree and landed ungracefully on his back, getting up to stare down Heracross with a look of unbridled fury.

With the usual roar, Ursaring charged forward, his claws outstretched. He savagely brought them down in a vicious swipe, but Heracross was prepared. He bent down, letting the claws strike his iron-hard carapace, and thrust his horn up and into Ursaring's gut. He then pulled back from the winded bear and pulled raised a claw before bringing it down upon his head in a brutal Brick Break.

"Ra cross," the Single Horn Pokémon hissed contemptuously. Thoroughly annoyed, he flared his wings and flew away. If Ursaring was going to be petulant about the tree, then he would just go to his other source of food: the honeycombs.

Ursaring groggily roused himself, noticing that Heracross was nowhere to be found. He deduced that the Single Horn Pokémon had gone to the honeycombs to raid what was left in order to avoid confrontation. The vengeful pokémon that he was, Ursaring was not about to let that happen. He let out a loud, vicious roar that traveled far from where he stood. Ursaring would not stand for this humiliation. He thundered off after Heracross, aiming to get some payback.

The tree Rachel noticed was covered in kakuna suddenly buzzed to life as Heracross passed it. An entire swarm of beedrill flew out of the thick leaves to follow their fellow bug while a butterfree swarm congregated overhead. Ignoring their presence, Heracross continued to fly towards the honeycomb, stomach growling the whole time.

At the same time, Grey and his sister had begun their lesson on capturing pokémon. Grey crossed his arms impatiently, tapping his foot as his sister sat on a nearby rock to listen to what he had to say. Vulpix settled next to her and Mudkip leapt into her arms, blissfully unaware of what was going on.

"Okay," Grey began, "I'm not going to do a physical demonstration, so listen up. Catching a pokémon is as easy as one-two-three."

"Char," Soul nodded sagely.

"Well, if it's so easy, then get to teaching," Rachel said eagerly. She pushed all guilt to the back of her mind and listened intently.

"Okay, okay. First, you need to find a pokémon you want to catch and have one of the pokémon you already have battle it to make it weaker," Grey explained.

"But that's so barbaric!" Rachel protested. "Won't they get hurt?"

"Of course they're going to get hurt; that's the risk you take when you start a battle. As a trainer, you have to give commands to your pokémon to make sure it isn't really hurt. And pokémon fight each other in the wild all the time, so it's not as barbaric as you say it is," Grey said, quick to defend his beliefs. "Can I continue?"

"Sorry," Rachel said in a small voice.

"Thank you. Okay, so after the pokémon you're targeting is weakened, preferably when its dazed or knocked out, you use one of these," he plucked an empty ball off his belt and expanded it before placing it back in its place, "and throw it at your target. You just need to hope your aim's good and that the pokémon's too weak to fight back against the ball."

"But wait, isn't that sort of forcing them to come with you?"

"Not really," Grey said with a shrug. "They're given a fair chance to fight so that they aren't captured and even when they're in the ball, they can continue to try fight their way out of it. A poké ball doesn't have a one-hundred percent success rate."

"But what about that pokémon's family? Wouldn't they miss it?" Rachel implored, trying to find at least one flaw in the system.

"Rachel, if you haven't noticed, all pokémon want to fight to become stronger and compete against other pokémon, wild or trained. Hell, there are some wild pokémon that are even jealous of trained ones and _want_ to be caught."

"Char charmander," _He's right, you know,_ Soul agreed. Lucy also nodded in agreement, having had a first hand experience in this. Rachel deflated, utterly beaten by Grey's logic.

"Okay, fine, you win," she resigned. "Now, can you recommend a pokémon for me to catch?" Grey put a hand to his chin in thought.

"Well, there's bound to be beedrill in this forest since we saw that kakuna tree. Maybe even a zigzagoon or a pidgey. Especially if the pidgey becomes a pidgeotto and then a pidgeot later on," he suggested. Grey stretched his back, sighing in content as he felt a few vertebrae pop.

Rachel considered the options carefully until an imaginary light bulb lit up over her head.

"What about that heracross you and James are after?" Rachel suggested. Grey let out a bark of a laugh and Vulpix's fur bristled angrily.

"Yeah, right," Grey said. "You aren't even close to being able to catch something like a heracross."

"Well, neither are you. You're still just as new as James is," Rachel shot back indignantly.

"Okay, that's true, but still. I think we've got a better chance at catching it than you do, sis. No offense or anything."

"Oh, don't sell me that, Grey. And saying 'no offense' doesn't lessen the offense at all," Rachel shot back. Grey only sucked his teeth at her and Soul and Vulpix sighed exasperatedly. The Thomas sibling rivalry was a very tiresome event.

"So are we gonna find you a pokémon to catch, or what?" Grey asked in a low voice.

"I guess so," Rachel muttered acidly, not looking at her brother. "You want to go look for one?" Grey's answer was drowned out by the sound of a pair of massive insect wings buzzing loudly overhead. Grey and Rachel looked up, a wide grin broke across Grey's face and a look of awe blooming on Rachel's. Vulpix stared on with disinterest, Mudkip gawked, Lucy smirked a bit, and Soul, as usual, grinned and flexed his claws.

"Heracross!" the Single Horn Pokémon called as it flew by. Noting the shape of its horn, Grey deduced that Heracross was male. He reached for the poké ball he'd put away and took off in hot pursuit of Heracross, Soul and Lucy hot on his heels.

"Come back here, Heracross!" he shouted.

"Wait, Grey!" Rachel called after her brother. "I still don't have a poké ball!" Grey hastily dug around in his messenger back and tossed his sister an empty ball before continuing his pursuit of Heracross.

"Good luck, Rae! Meet you back at the honeycomb!" he shouted. "Soul, Ember! Lucy, Aqua Jet!"

"Char!"

"Bu~_i!_"

Heracross let out a startled cry, losing his focus as he was hit from behind by the combination attack and stumbled in his flight as a result. He turned around, eyes narrowing angrily at Grey and his two pokémon.

_Perfect,_ he thought, irritated. _All I want is some food and now look what happens. Why is everyone trying to pick a fight today?_ Heracross pointed his now glowing horn down at the three chasing him and winged forward, slamming his prized appendage into Lucy's stomach before throwing her into the air and letting her fall back down limply. He turned back around and put on a burst of speed, eager to lose his pursuers and finally get something to eat.

"That was Megahorn," Grey noted as he caught Lucy while running. He stopped for a split second to pick up Soul and took off running again.

Rachel looked at the ball in her hand in silent contemplation. It's shiny, metallic red surface seemed to look back at her, as if daring her to use it. She let out what felt to her to be her umpteenth sigh, her confidence fading fast.

"Vuuul…" Vulpix mewled, nuzzling up against Rachel's legs. She urged her forward with her nose and pointed towards where Heracross had flown off.

"Mud mud!" Mudkip yipped encouragingly.

"Thanks, girl; thanks 'Kip." Rachel clutched the ball, her confidence skyrocketing and her face setting into a determined state. "Let's go get that heracross."

Suddenly, a loud, angry buzzing and the warbling cries of more than a dozen butterfree reached Rachel's ears. She turned around, looking up with a gawking look to rival Mudkip's and saw a solid cloud of black and yellow chasing after Heracross. Right behind the beedrill swarm were several butterfree, lazily flapping in the same direction. Rachel's blood ran cold as ice, a worst-case scenario forming in her head.

"If those beedrill are after that Heracross…then that means Grey's in trouble!" she screamed, horrified. She took off desperately after her little brother, boots crunching through the undergrowth with every step.

* * *

Soul was having a difficult time keeping up with his trainer's long stride with his tiny legs. Nonetheless, he plugged on through and continued to lob fireballs at Heracross in an attempt to weaken the Bug-type while Lucy rocketed by with another Aqua Jet. Heracross was surprisingly agile and quick for a pokémon of his size, able to sidestep Lucy's attack and fly above Soul's before being hit. All the while, Grey kept his focus on catching and keeping up with Heracross.

Heracross was obviously getting riled up and angry that he was getting attacked for the second time in less than a half hour. Seeing as he didn't know any ranged attacks, he was confined to knocking the buizel out of the air and dodging the charmander's potentially painful attacks. He deftly swerved under a Water Gun attack before getting blasted full in the face by Soul's Dragon Rage. The force of the impact actually made the Single Horn Pokémon do a backwards flip through the air before landing heavily on the ground and becoming susceptible to a Water Gun that pinned him to the spot.

"Nice shot, guys," Grey praised his pokémon. He took out another empty ball and expanded it, pointing it at Heracross. "You're mine now, buddy. Poké ball, capture -"

"Heracrau!" Heracross suddenly bellowed, pointing behind Grey with a look of utmost fear upon his face. Soul's flame shrank and Lucy looked eyes widened with fear in an instant. Confused, Grey looked towards where Heracross was pointing to see a caterpie hanging from a branch and munching on a leaf.

"What was the point of…" Grey's left eye twitched as he realized that he'd just fallen for the oldest trick in the book. 'Duped by a heracross' was definitely something he could mark down as a highlight of his adventure. "That wasn't funny, man!" he said, turning on Heracross angrily, only to see Soul and Lucy running behind the retreating Bug-type.

"Guys!" he called after them. "I didn't say to go after him; why're you all running?" He was about to go after them when the same buzzing that struck fear in Rachel repeated its actions with him. His entire body shook as he slowly turned around for the second time to see the beedrill swarm rapidly closing the gap between himself and them.

"Oh…CRAAAAAAP!" It took a split second for him to realize that their poisonous spears were pointed at him, for what reason, he had no clue. Another scream tore itself from his throat and he took off literally running for his life.

The beedrill, not knowing the way to the honeycomb on their own, were angry at Grey for attempting to capture their meal ticket. They knew that he'd most likely try once more, so, naturally, they had to remove him from the equation. As one, they took aim at the fleeing teenager, spears glowing a venomous purple as they fired their Poison Sting attacks at him.

Grey fearfully sped up at the sound of their assault. He most definitely did not want to get hit with that many poisonous barbs at once; it spelled instant death! There were so many things he hadn't done yet in his short life: he'd never driven a car, he'd never had his first beer… for Arceus's sake, he'd never been kissed! He continued to run, catching up with Soul, Lucy, and the heracross, scooping his companions up and making a sharp turn away from the swarm. They kept following him, however, and the three of them bemoaned their luck.

_I knew getting caught by a human would be the death of me! _Lucy cried.

_I'm too young to die!_ Soul shouted pitifully. _I'm only three years old! Somebody help us!_

"I hate beedrill!" Grey roared, pumping his already burning legs as hard as he possibly could. He needed to find a place to hide; anywhere. Anything was better than being stung to death by a beedrill swarm.

"I haven't even earned my second badge yet…" That one thought momentarily dashed all of Grey's fears in an instant. That was correct; he _hadn't_ obtained the next badge yet and he had vowed to gain all of them and challenge the league. Heatran's blood would turn to ice before Grey died without finishing his quest.

"Soul, if you trust me, I've got an idea!" he said to his partner. Soul gulped uneasily, but nodded nonetheless. "We're not gonna go out like this!" He boldly turned around, holding Soul out with one hand and shouting, "Smokescreen, now!"

Soul took a huge gulp of air and belched out a cloud of thick, acrid smoke. The smoke washed over the swarm, instantly putting a majority of them to sleep while only rendering the more fortitudinous ones slightly drowsy. Ignoring their comrades as they fell right out of the air, the remaining beedrill were more focused on ridding themselves of their sleepiness and continuing their vicious chase of the human boy, killing intent fully present.

"I honestly cannot believe that worked," Grey muttered to himself. Taking no more time to stick around, he ran off to put as much distance between himself and the beedrill.

* * *

Jameson let out a grunt of effort as he placed the honey bucket he was carrying into the pickup truck that Danny had gotten. He cast a look back at the ruined honeycomb and frowned. It was a shame that Danny's honeycombs had been demolished by the local pokémon but there was nothing that could be done about it.

"It's a shame," he said to himself, sticking his finger in the bucket to sneak a taste. He licked the honey off his finger, savoring the delicious taste. "His combee make _really _good honey."

"Scy scyther?" Sniper asked innocently, eyeing the honey buckets hungrily.

"Not after last time," James said sternly. "That was totally uncalled for, you helping yourself to Danny's honey." His scyther looked down in apologetic shame. "Serves you right, you sugar demon."

"That the last one, James?" Juniper asked. She was currently using one of her water bottles to bathe an irritable and squirming Rosewood. The clumsy furret had accidentally fallen into a puddle of honey and shrieked in disgust. Her fur - her precious fur - was ruined now, made sticky by the infernal honey. If she never saw the stuff ever again, it'd be too soon.

"Rosewood, sit still or else I'll never get this out of your fur," June muttered.

_Told you to watch your step, _Sylva chuckled.

_Shut _up, _you stupid lizard,_ Rosewood fumed. _I don't like this any more than you do._

_Speak for yourself; this is hilarious for me,_ Sylva responded.

_As it is for me_, Shishi said, voice and wispy laughs barely above a whisper as he twisted the cap on a honey jar and handed it to Danny. Rosewood growled at them both, vowing to get them back as June doused her head.

"Alright, thanks a whole lot, guys," Danny said, wiping sweat off of his brow. "I can't even begin to tell you how big of a help you were. Just a few more buckets and we're done."

_Like the grovyle said, speak for yourself,_ Vespiqueen said haughtily. _That ruffian scyther of theirs had to be restrained the whole time and kept away from _my_ honey._

_Sorry 'bout that,_ Sniper laughed sheepishly. _I just can't control myself around such good sweets. _Vespiqueen gave a proud smile.

_Well, since you think so highly of it…_

"Don't even try sweet talking her, Sniper; you're not getting any more honey," Jameson admonished.

"Scy scyther scy!" the Mantis Pokémon protested.

"Well, then, learn some self control, you psycho," his trainer laughed.

"Okay then," Danny said. He recalled the combee to their poké balls and produced a set of keys from his pocket. "When your friend and his sister get back and help us with the rest of this, how'd you like a ride to Mélange Town?"

"Wow, you mean it?" June asked excitedly. Rosewood shook all five feet of her body out, spraying June in the face as she did so. "I can just feel the love, Rosewood," she said dryly.

"Of course I do. It'd take me the entire day to do this on my own and I really am grateful," Danny said with a friendly smile.

"Thanks, man! You're a lifesaver," Jameson praised.

"I should say that about you guys," Danny laughed. "However…there's one stipulation." A sly smirk adorned his face and he twirled the truck's keys on his finger.

"What's that?" Juniper asked.

"You, the kid, and James ride in the back with the honey buckets. Rachel sits up front with me." A sly grin formed on Danny's face at the confused look on Juniper's face and the smirk on James's.

"Oh, I get it; don't want the kids messin' you up while you get in good with Grey's sister," James said amusedly.

"You catch on quick, James," Danny replied, making no denials about his intention.

"Just wait until Grey hears this," Juniper laughed, envisioning an enraged Grey glaring at Danny while the latter had his arm around a giggling Rachel. "Think he'll flip?"

"That or laugh his head off," Jameson said, his voice straining as he stretched his back. He took a seat on the truck to rest, joined by Shishi's presence on his head. An odd buzzing sound reached Juniper's and Rosewood's ears, appearing to be getting closer.

"Do…do you guys hear that buzzing noise?" she inquired carefully. Sylva's eyes narrowed and she moved in front of her trainer, taking a defensive stance.

"What noise?" Danny asked curiously. "If you mean the buzzing, it's just Vespiqueen's wings going -"

"No," June interrupted. She took Rosewood in her arms protectively and felt her entire body tense up. "It's sound isn't the same as Vespiqueen's; it's bigger and louder."

The air became intensely charged with anticipation; Jameson slowly got off the truck and gave a silent nod to Shishi. The Requiem Pokémon conjured up a Will-O-Wisp in his small hands and Sniper was there in a flash, all childishness gone. His eyes turned hard as rock and his blade-arms glinted in the green light.

"You think it might be -" Danny began, only to be cut off by a giant blue blur bursting out from the trees and skidding across the ground in attempt to stop itself. It tripped on a rock, did a front flip, and crashed into the remains of Danny's honeycomb, making an even bigger hole than the one on the east side.

Shards of wood flew all over, accompanied by a loud crash from inside the honeycomb. Jameson gave another nod to Sniper and his pokémon reacted in an instant. He winged his way through the hole and raised one of his blades only to be knocked back by a blue horn with a curious cross shape adorning the tip.

"Hera crau!" Heracross barked as he dug himself out of the wreckage, glaring at his scyther opponent.

"It's that damned heracross again!" Danny shouted accusingly. "It's probably back for another free meal. And it busted yet _another_ hole through the wall! Damn it…"

Jameson silently pulled out his own Pokédex - a navy blue copy of Grey's - and scanned Heracross.

**Heracross, the Single Horn Pokémon, **the Pokédex recited in a female voice_. _**Heracross is surprisingly strong for its size, able to knock down fully grown trees with its horn and endure attacks with a carapace said to be as strong as steel. Despite this, Heracross are normally docile pokémon, only fighting when threatened or attacked. Heracross feed on tree sap by biting through the bark with their powerful jaws. Its eating habits unwittingly enter it into a symbiotic relationship with Butterfree, but makes it unpopular among most Grass-type pokémon.**

**Gender: Male**

"Stand back and let me take this one," Jameson commanded, eager and authority riding his voice. He ran over to help his scyther up, Shishi following behind him like a ghostly sentry. "If I catch him, then my bet with Grey is sealed. Sniper, you ready for a one on one fight?"

"Scy," Sniper grunted. He took his weight off Jameson and took a battle stance, eyes narrowed, feet spread apart, and scythes crossed dangerously.

"Hera?" Heracross hissed confusedly. It didn't take long for him to realize that Sniper would be his opponent and that Jameson was his trainer. This was turning out to be an extremely taxing day for Heracross; all he wanted was some food and he's been challenged to a battle not once, not twice, but three times in a row. As he stood up and brandished his horn boldly at Sniper, he wondered exactly what he'd done to deserve all this.

"Ra cross!" he hissed challengingly.

"If you say so, let's begin! June, you getting this?" Jameson asked, grinning.

"As if you had to ask," the girl called back, completely immersed in taking notes.

"Heh, I guess you're right. Sniper, Quick Attack!" James ordered, throwing a hand out at Heracross.

With a grunt of effort, Sniper flared his wings and pushed off the ground, rocketing forward with great speed and leaving a glowing white trail behind him. In an instant, he had his shoulder buried in Heracross's thorax and was pushing the Single Horn Pokémon back with seemingly little effort.

Heracross wasn't about to let himself be bested and dug his feet into the ground, effectively stopping Sniper's attack in its tracks. He smiled victoriously and reared his head back to slam Sniper in the side with his Horn Attack. Sniper tumbled across the ground like a skipping stone and crashed into a tree, both his back and pride bruised.

"Shake it off, buddy," Jameson urged in a calm voice. Sniper groaned as he endured the pain and stood himself back up, ready to take another command. "Good job. Now get him with Wing Attack and make it a good one!"

Scy-_ther!_" Sniper shouted as he pushed off the ground, wings glowing with a fortifying light. Heracross reacted quickly, flaring his wings as well and flying upwards with a burst of great speed. Sniper gave chase, easily catching up and slamming his glowing wing into Heracross. While his opponent was dazed by the super-effective move, Sniper wheeled around and crossed his scythes together, empowering them and slashing Heracross with a well-placed X-Scissor.

Heracross flipped in the air, fighting to right himself before Sniper could attack him again. He straightened out just in time to dodge as Sniper streaked by using Quick Attack and glared down at the green bug. Heracross blazed forward himself, air currents splitting at the tip of his horn and surrounding him as he sped towards Sniper. The Mantis Pokémon's eyes widened in surprise and he attempted to dodge, slightly angling his body so that Heracross would harmlessly pass by.

Sniper received another jarring surprise when a sharp wind burst that trailed behind Heracross collided into him and left several cuts.

Heracross turned around in midair, braced himself, and slammed his prized horn into Sniper's gut. The attack sent Sniper speeding straight back down to earth where the impact of his fall kicked up a huge dust cloud.

"I don't believe it; that was Aerial Ace!" Juniper cried in awe.

"Just my luck for it to know a move that never misses," James growled. "Sniper, you alright in there, buddy?" he called out of concern for his pokémon. Sniper gave a weak groan in response before falling unconscious.

"Well, it looks like it's your turn now, Shishi," Jameson sighed.

"Dusssk…" Shishi replied in a feeble sounding whisper. Just as he was about to float into battle and bail his teammate out, the duskull heard another curious buzzing noise accompanied by a trio of screams and desperate footsteps headed their way.

"There's another heracross?" June hypothesized ecstatically.

"No, but there's a crap-load of beedrill!" Grey screamed as he burst onto the scene. He took refuge behind Danny's truck just as the swarm of beedrill following him furiously made themselves known.

"Just our luck!" Danny shouted. He turned on Grey, shouting, "You were dumb enough to piss off a beedrill swarm?"

"Hey, don't look at me, dude!" Grey said defensively. "I was just teaching my sister when Heracross flew by and I chased after it and next thing I know, I'm running for my life!"

"Char char!" _It's true_! Soul affirmed.

"While I highly doubt that, we've got more important things to deal with," Jameson said. "Shishi, Shadow Ball spread!"

"Duskull!" Shishi cried, lobbing a Shadow Ball at the swarm and breaking it into a carpet barrage with a smaller version. The beedrill were bombarded and covered with a thick smoke more acrid than Soul's as the attack exploded on them.

"Vespiqueen, let's not let them have all the fun," Danny commanded. "Use Power Gem!"

The buzzing from Vespiqueen's wings grew in intensity as she concentrated on the jewel in her forehead. She placed both claws on either side of it as the gem glowed an iridescent white before throwing them out and sending a multitude of crystalline fragments racing forward. The fragments struck the remaining beedrill that were still standing, instantly knocking them out.

Grey, having found his courage again, bravely commanded Soul to use Ember on the last two beedrill. Soul's fireballs impacted the beedrill and set their entire bodies ablaze in a second. The Poison Bee Pokémon fell out of the sky and joined their fallen comrades in crumpled, blackened heaps.

"Oh, man, am I glad that's over," Grey sighed as he rested doubled over with his hands on his knees. "Thanks a lot, guys."

"Don't mention it," Danny said. He took a few poké balls out of his pockets and used them to capture some of the injured beedrill. "Thanks to you, I think I may have gotten some new honeycomb guards."

"Now that that's over," Jameson said, recalling Sniper to his ball and giving him a silent thank you, "it's time for me to capture Heracross!"

"Charmander?" Soul wondered.

Confused, Grey looked around the area until he saw Heracross standing in front of the ruined honeycomb, still waiting for Jameson to finish their battle. Under normal circumstances, he would've hightailed it out of there when the beedrill showed up, but after seeing Jameson's duskull fight, he decided to stick around and test his skills. Also, he knew that even if he did run, Jameson would pursue him, so it would save him the hassle to just tay put.

"Ra cross," came his expectant hiss.

"Wha… No way!" Grey shouted. He pointed an accusing finger at Jameson and then at Heracross. "You didn't tell me that Heracross came here!"

"Your loss, dude," Jameson said offhandedly. "It's still my turn."

"'Your turn' my ass," Grey grumbled. "Soul, use your -"

"Guys!" came Rachel's distressed call. She skidded to a stop in the middle of the clearing, head turning left and right as she looked for Grey. "There was a beedrill swarm," she said between breaths, "and they were chasing after -"

"Me?" Grey asked. Rachel turned toward his voice and her brother waved at her, obviously fine. "I sort of led them back here and we took care of them."

"We? Danny and I and our pokémon were the ones who did most of the work," James pointed out.

"Whatever!" Grey groaned tiredly. "The beedrill are gone now. Danny caught them and there's nothing to worry about any-"

"Gumaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

"I opened my mouth too soon," Grey sighed. "What now?"

His question was answered by none other than Ursaring, the Hibernator Pokémon slowly thundering into the clearing with rage written all over his face. Heracross tensed up at Ursaring's appearance.

_Did he honestly follow me all this way because of a few berries? _he said incredulously.

"What'd you do to piss this one off, Grey?" Jameson demanded.

"Don't look at me; I didn't even know this one was around!" Grey shot back.

"Hera! Heracross! Ra crau~!" Heracross shouted. Ursaring's attention turned towards the Single Horn Pokémon and he began shouting, roaring, and growling furiously at him.

"What're they saying?" June asked Grey, tugging on his sleeve.

"I think…" he struggled. Grey strained his ears to try and catch what they were saying. It came to him in small ripples, but he understood the general meaning. "Ursaring's mad at Heracross because…of a food dispute? At least I think so."

"Should we just let them battle it out? Because I'm starting to get really tired of this," Danny groaned.

"None of us have pokémon that can take on an ursaring as mad as that one," Juniper admitted. "Sniper would have a chance but Heracross already beat him.'

On the sidelines, Rachel gulped audibly. Her knees shook, she started to sweat with fear, but she knew she had to do something. Chances were, if Ursaring beat Heracross, it'd be going after them next due to the bear's notorious temper. She felt Vulpix nudge her forward again and took a calming breath. She steeled her nerves and took a tentative step forward, common sense telling her to back out now.

"Mud," Mudkip nodded encouragingly. That was all the push Rachel needed at that point. She ran out at Ursaring just as he lunged at Heracross.

"Hey!" she called. Ursaring, Heracross, and all others present focused their attention on Rachel. "Back off."

"Rachel, are you crazy?" Grey yelled, honestly worried for his sister's well being. "That's an Ursaring; it'll rip you apart!"

"Grey, I can't just sit around and not pull my own weight anymore. You guys do all the battling and, as long as I'm going with you, I need to do some of it, too! It's not in me to sit back and let other people protect me!" Rachel declared boldly.

"You couldn't pick a weaker target to battle? Maybe a caterpie or, hell, even one of the beedrill if they were still attacking us. But an ursaring?" James shouted.

"I have to do this," Rachel said stubbornly. Mudkip took a seat at her side, offering silent moral support.

Ursaring momentarily ignored Heracross's presence to deal with this new annoyance. He tightened his muscles and extended his claws, putting on the best enraged face it could.

"Vulpix, let's do this," Rachel said. Vulpix nodded and took a seat in front of Rachel. She stared at Ursaring unblinkingly as if daring him to attack.

On the sidelines, Lucy watched with intrigue as Rachel took the stage. After hearing about how the girl'd reacted during the haunted house incident, she labelled Rachel as a weakling but, now, seeing her overcome her fears to take on an enraged Ursaring, she realized she'd been wrong. In the back of her mind, she toyed with the idea and the possibilities of switching trainers.

_Come on, jarhead. Let's dance,_ Vulpix taunted. Ursaring happily obliged, leaping at Vulpix with full intent to kill.

"Confuse Ray!" Rachel commanded.

Vulpix's eyes adopted an unearthly blue color and she stared straight into Ursaring's eyes. The Hibernator Pokémon, unable to tear his gaze away, succumbed to the Vulpix's spell. He held his head in pain, not knowing which way was up or down or what he should even be doing.

"That was actually pretty good," Grey noted, awe in his voice.

"Now use Quick Attack!" Rachel felt her heartbeat rise in the rush of battle, adrenaline beginning to pump into her system. Vulpix then stood up and attacked in a flash, burying her skull in the center of the ring on her opponent's stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Ursaring attempted to attack with Slash but ended up tripping over and knocking his head against a tree when Vulpix jumped out of the way. Head spinning, he jumped back up and started using Thrash, only managing to punch, kick, bite, slash, and hurt himself badly in his attempt.

"Vulpix, use Extrasensory!" Rachel ordered. She'd never before told Vulpix to use the move and wanted to see what the effects would be. She got her wish; Vulpix's eyes turned purple and she again locked her gaze with Ursaring's, twisting and burning the inside of his mind with her overwhelming psychic attack. However, Ursaring got lucky. The mental pain he felt from Extrasensory inadvertently freed him from confusion's grip, allowing him to push himself forward and land a devastating Fire Punch attack on Vulpix.

The petite fox's fur burst into flames as was sent flying into a tree. She slid to the bottom but easily righted herself. Her fur was still curiously burning, but she felt almost no damage from Ursaring's attack.

"Hera…" Heracross muttered in silent awe.

"Is that…?" June wondered. Her eyes grew expectantly as she watched the flames grow in intensity with each passing second.

"Flash Fire!" Grey cheered. "Awesome! It's been a while since I've seen Vulpix's ability."

"What's Flash Fire?" Rachel asked.

"Wise up, sis! You should know this," Grey responded gleefully. "If Vulpix gets hit with a fire attack like Fire Punch, she absorbs the flames and uses them to power up her own fire moves!"

"Quick, end this!" James shouted.

"Right. Vulpix, end this with Flamethrower!" The fire on her back dissipated as Vulpix charged a swirling fireball in her mouth. She reared her head back and threw it forward, sending a more powerful than usual Flamethrower attack barreling into a shocked Ursaring. Ursaring screamed in pain as the flames consumed him on the spot, blackening his fur and sapping every last bit of his strength until he was no longer able to fight. Still on fire, Ursaring fell to the ground.

Danny took out yet another poké ball and tossed it at Ursaring. The bear pokémon was sucked into the ball and didn't even put up a fight; the ball pinged, signaling a successful capture.

"I…I did it," Rachel whispered to herself. "I did it!" she repeated louder, jumping for joy and hugging Vulpix and Mudkip when they jumped into her arms. "We did it, Vulpix; we won our first real battle!"

"You know, I'd think she'd be more disappointed than happy," Grey said. "But, she did it."

"Dude, your sister rocks," Jameson grinned.

"Looks like natural battling talent runs in the family," June said with a giggle. "And I got some great notes on Flash Fire, too. This will really help my research."

"Phenomenal!" Danny praised.

"Heracross!" the blue beetle shouted, cutting the festivities short.

"Oh, right!" James and Grey chorused, each taking out poké balls and marshalling a Soul and Shishi forward.

"Back off, Grey; he's mine!"

"No way, you had your chance!"

"Hera," Heracross said with a shake of his head. He pointed to Rachel defiantly, then pointed back at himself before jabbing the air with his horn a few times. "Hera! Heracross!"

"It looks like he wants to battle my sister," Grey said in amazement.

"Go for it, I guess," James shrugged, putting away his ball.

"R-Really, Heracross?" Rachel asked him. "You want to fight Vulpix and me?"

"Ra cross!" he nodded determinedly. Heracross took a battle stance and let his wings out from under his shell, eyes narrowed and ready for battle. "Heracrau!"

"Okay, then. Vulpix, show him Ember!"

"Vuuul pix!" the scarlet fox mewled. She opened her mouth and sent out a barrage of tiny flames. Heracross knocked them out of the air with his arms like he was swatting flies before flying at Vulpix and ramming her with his horn. Vulpix stood her ground and fixed Heracross with a death glare, eyes blazing purple in use of Extrasensory. Heracross's cry of pain was much louder than Ursaring's due to the type disadvantage, but he silenced himself quickly and pushed on in spite of the damage.

"He_ra!_" he roared as his horn began to glow. He forced it under Vulpix and vaulted her into air like a volleyball. Vulpix flailed as she attempted to straighten out but Heracross was there in a flash to knock her back down with another Megahorn. As Heracross landed, Vulpix struggled back onto her feet, looking to Rachel for a command.

"Oh! Uhm… Use Extrasensory again, but keep your distance!" Rachel said unsurely. She was still new to battling and this was only her second time. Vulpix cried out, her eyes flashing yellow this time. A multicolor ball of psychic energy formed between her eyes and shot out as a condensed beam. Heracross jumped out of the way and flew at Vulpix, horn glowing brightly again. Vulpix fired off another Extrasensory that struck Heracross full in the face and sent him onto his back with a yelp of pain. Heracross struggled to get out of his prone position to no avail.

"Yes, you've got him!" Danny shouted.

"Vulpix, Flamethrower!" Vulpix summoned the scarlet flames quickly and breathed out another torrent. Unable to dodge, Heracross was seared by the powerful Fire-type attack and flailed his limbs, desperately trying to move.

That was when Lucy made up her mind. She knew that Grey would be disappointed after only spending such a short amount of time with her, but this was what Lucy wanted to do. In her mind, Lucy thought that if Grey was true to his word, then he'd let Lucy do what she thought was best for her. Lucy let out a sigh; she'd miss being on the same team as Soul. She'd finally grown to respect the confident little fire lizard.

Vulpix ceased fire and looked over her shoulder at Rachel, who had pulled out the miniaturized poké ball Grey gave her in deep thought. Nodding quickly, she pressed the button in the center and expanded the ball before taking careful aim. At that exact moment, Grey and James's hearts simultaneously fell through their stomachs.

"If she catches Heracross…" James began fearfully.

"Then that means we have to…" Grey finished, his eyes widening even further.

"Poké ball! Capture on!" Rachel cried as she lobbed the ball at Heracross. It struck him on the horn, converting him into red energy that was sucked into its center. The ball closed and fell to the ground with a soft clunk where it began to rock back and forth furiously as Heracross tried to fight his way out. For almost a whole minute, all present watched full of suspense until the ball finally stopped shaking and emitted a soft ping.

"YES!" Rachel mimicked her brother and punched the air in victory.

"NO!" Grey and James yelled. Rachel collected the ball and held it proudly in the air, Vulpix and Mudkip dancing beside her.

"I caught Heracross! Chew on that, Grey!" she laughed triumphantly as she danced with her pokémon. "And it's all thanks to you, Vulpix!"

"Vul vul!"

Soul and Grey stared on in utter disbelief while James pounded the ground beside them, Shishi patting his shoulder comfortingly.

"Well, you guys did make a bet," June said, keeping the laughter out of her voice as best she could.

"I don't believe this," Grey muttered in a hollow voice. "She actually did it. She said she'd never do it, but she just did and now she's rubbing it in my face…"

"And now we have to buy her dinner…" James lamented. "Please tell me that she isn't a big eater. Please, Grey."

"Okay, I won't. Say goodbye to your money, James." The boys gave twin groans of defeat, irony smacking them in the face with the force of a speeding car.

* * *

Afternoon rolled around with Rachel still in extremely high spirits. She'd borrowed some of Grey's supplies to heal Heracross's injuries and decided against giving him a nickname. After scanning him with the Pokédex, they learned that Heracross knew the moves Horn Attack, Aerial Ace, Brick Break, Megahorn, Endure, Leer, Night Slash, Take Down and, surprisingly, Iron Defense.

By that time, the sun hung low in the sky, bathing the forest in a calming orange light. All of Danny's remaining honey had been salvaged and placed into the back of his truck, Rosewood was now free of honey in her fur, and Grey and James were still lamenting the loss of their bet.

"I really love karma," Rachel sang, Mudkip once more dozing in her arms. "It knocked Grey down a few pegs and got me a free lunch and a Heracross."

"Ra cross," Heracross grunted through a mouthful of Sitrus Berries.

"Oh, shut up!" Grey and James shouted angrily.

"Congrats again, Rae. You were a natural out there," June complimented. Rachel took the compliment bashfully, saying it was no big deal.

"Okay, guys, honey's all loaded up. Thanks again for helping me out," Danny said, dusting off his hands on his shirt.

_It meant a lot to Daniel. Thank you all again, _Vespiqueen said with a regal bow.

_It was our pleasure, _Vulpix replied respectfully.

_No big deal, _Soul shrugged.

_Try saying that while carrying another bucket, lizard,_ Lucy and Rosewood said in unison.

"No problem, dude," Grey said.

"Weren't you originally against this, Grey?" June pointed out naively.

"Not helping, June," the black-haired boy deadpanned.

"We were glad to," Rachel said. "Thanks again for giving us a ride to Mélange Town."

"Don't mention it," Danny said with a grin. "As a thank you, there are a few jars of honey I'll give you when we get to town. Now, if you kids and pokémon wouldn't mind getting in the back, we can get going."

"Hey, wait, there's not enough room for all of us," Grey pointed out.

"Yeah, I know," James said. "Heracross and Sniper can follow us by flying and I think Sylva's focused enough to ride on top of the truck."

"No, no, that's not what I mean," Grey said hurriedly. "Where's Rachel going to sit?" Juniper and James erupted into laughter now that Grey had finally asked the question. "What's so funny?" he asked in confusion.

"Rachel," Danny said flirtatiously, "will sit up front with me." He draped an arm around a blushing Rachel's shoulders. Grey's eyes widened then narrowed accusingly in the same motion. He turned to June and James expecting an answer.

"You guys never told me that!" he roared.

"We wanted to see the look on your face, and man, was it priceless! Almost makes losing Heracross not hurt as badly," James guffawed.

"S-Sorry, Grey," June said through her laughs.

"You're telling me that we worked all day helping Danny out and now he's flirting with my sister?" He turned to Danny and pointed an indignant finger at the blonde boy. "Dude, not cool!"

"Sorry, kid; them's the brakes," Danny said smugly. "Get in the back if you want a ride. Otherwise, you can go on foot."

"Maybe I will," Grey huffed petulantly.

"Fine, dude; your loss," James said, traces of laughter still present. He climbed into the back and sat on a honey bucket, Shishi riding on his head. June sat next to him with Rosewood across her shoulders while Sylva jumped onto the top and sat down to balance herself. Sniper, Vespiqueen, and Heracross took flight above them.

"Suit yourself," Danny said with a shrug. "Come on, Rachel; let's get to know each other better." Rachel played along, giving Grey a smug look before getting into the car with Vulpix.

"Sure, Danny. Let's," she said with a seductive edge that made Grey's eyes pop out of his skull.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked suspiciously. The group laughed as Danny started the car and drove off. "Guys, you're not gonna leave me out here, are you?" he shouted after them. The just kept on driving and Grey's annoyance grew.

"Fine, I've still got my pokémon with me. Right, Soul?" There was no response. "…Soul?"

"Char char!" the fire lizard called as he and Lucy waved at him from the back of the truck.

"Soul, you traitor!" Grey shouted. He took off after them. "Wait; I changed my mind! You can have my sister! I still need a ride! Guuuuuys!"

* * *

**Ahh, can't you just feel the love between them? I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, but it did take me a while, which I apologize for. Upside is, you get eight more pages of reading than normal!**

**So Rachel captured Heracross. Sure, she broke one of the rules she held in the highest regard, but they say one's pride is most important. Plus, she gets a free dinner for her and her pokémon out of it, so I see no room to complain.**

**And Jameson's revealed to have his own Pokédex, except his is female. Wait, can Pokédexes even be classified by gender?**

**Poor Maverick barely showed up in this one... You'll be seeing a whole lot more of him in the future, though.**

**Next chapter's Mélange Town, so you know that's going to be eventful. We have Grey and James's gym battles coming up and there might even be some new additions in the pokémon department.**

**Anybody else reminded of the episode where Ash pisses off a beedrill swarm and Butterfree bails him out? Ahh, memories. Am I right, or am I right?**

**Team Regal's rival villainous team will make quite an appearance in the next few chapters, so keep your eyes peeled for that.**

**That's all the post-chapter notes for now. Remember, if you don't click that little review button on the bottom of this page, it gets closer and closer to pulling a Sasuke and turning to the dark side. And we don't want that, now, do we? Remember to tell me what you think of this chapter!**

**Chapter Preview:**

**Grey:** I can't believe you guys actually left me in the woods on my own.

**Rachel: **Oh, calm down. We came back for you, didn't we?

**Heracross: **Hera hera.

**Grey: **And quit rubbing Heracross in my face. It's not cool!

**Rachel: **This is just payback for what you said earlier in the forest. It's called karma, little brother~

**Juniper:** Do I always have to be the one to end your sibling rivalry? We need to get this chapter preview out of the way, so quit it and fight later.

**Grey: **Okay, fine, I'll do it.

**Jameson: **Let me. Okay, so next time, we finally make it to Mélange Town and Grey and I are pumped for our next Gym Battle. Mélange Town's a quiet little place out in the rural area, but it's got a pretty active small city further in town and there's miles of plains land surrounding it. I might just catch myself a new pokémon.

**Grey: **Hey, don't interrupt! And if it's a contest you want, then let's do it! We both catch a pokémon by the end of the day. Whoever doesn't has to…give up half their prize money from the Gym Battle to the winner!

**Jameson: **But I didn't want a contest…

**Grey: **Well, since we both lost the last one, I don't count it. There has to be a winner between the two of us this time.

**Soul: **Char man der!

**Jameson: **Okay then, you're on, Grey!

**Juniper: **Just be careful while you're in town. There are some shady people walking around in these weird uniforms and they look pretty dangerous.

**Rachel: **Like the guys back at the tunnel?

**Juniper: **No, even worse. These guys mean business.

**Grey:** No problem! The three of us can beat them without even breaking a sweat.

**Rachel: **Three?

**Juniper: **Well, you caught Heracross, so I guess that makes you a trainer now.

**Rachel: **How about a Pokémon Ranger with a trainer side job?

**Jameson: **Sounds good to me. Now, this preview's gone on long enough; let's tell them the chapter title.

**All: **Next time on _Challenger!:_ Duel in the Grassland! Gang-leader Zangoose!

**Grey: **And Heracross is gonna help me!

**Heracross: **Ra cross?


	11. Duel in the Grasslands

**Firstly, I'd like to thank TwiliPrincess049 for her extremely helpful review and those that are sure to come. You rock harder than Brock! Hooray for dumb pokémon puns! Also, she has a story up called **_**Shoot for the Moon**_**. It's your standard ten-year-old OC fic but it's not like most of the stuff on the archives. The main character actually acts her age! If you haven't checked it out yet, you should. Otherwise, we're sticking you in the cage with Muk and Ditto and we all know how traumatizing that is…**

**Oh, I almost forgot to mention. I went over my outline for this story and found that I left a huge gap in the events that come a little while after the stuff that's gonna happen here in Mélange Town, so chapter updates after a certain point may be a while. I'll let you know when that point is.**

**Disclaimer**_**: **_Guys, we've gone over this. I don't own Pokémon, now stop rubbing it in!

KEY:

"normal speech"

"_thought"_

_translated pokémon speech_

"blah blah blah _emphasis _blah blah blah"

**Pokédex Entries**

* * *

**Chapter 11: **Duel in the Grasslands: Gang leader Zangoose!

"So, tell me again why we're doing this?" Jameson asked Grey dryly. He and Rachel waited a while for Grey to finish wolfing down his bacon-cheese-and-egg sandwich to hear his answer.

Jameson, Grey, Rachel and their pokémon - Maverick just outside the window and with the new addition of Heracross - were all crowded in front of a booth eating breakfast in the Pokémon Centre. It was the morning after arriving in Mélange Town and, curiously enough, Danny had stuck around, his arm around an uncharacteristically bubbly Rachel.

That fact alone was cause enough for Grey to give the man a venomous death glare every five seconds. How _dare_ he accept their help and then flirt with his sister; what kind of gratitude was that! The bastard even had the nerve to actually drive off without him after all the help Grey had given him. Sure, the trainer boy had originally been against helping the honey maker and, sure, Danny went back for him, but it was the principle of the matter, damn it!

Grey gulped down the his mouthful of sandwich before handing the remains to Soul, who accepted it in silent thanks and immediately went for the cheese-covered bacon. "Because," he explained, "neither of us won the last contest and ended up having to pay for my glutton of a sister's dinner. We need a new one to decide which of us is truly better at catching pokémon."

"Because that's so important to improving our skills," Jameson said sarcastically. Shishi aimlessly circled his trainer's head and gave a short laugh, an odd 'shi-shi-shi-' sound.

"Exactly!" Grey said with a grin. Obviously, the derision went over his head, but James had to admit Grey was, in his own weird way, a little right.

"Thanks again for the dinner, bro; it was great," Rachel said teasingly. "It was so kind of you to pay for Danny, too."

"'It was so kind of you to pay for -' blah blah blah…" Grey muttered acidly under his breath. "The deal was we pay for you, not you and Casanova here."

"Yeah, that was just uncalled for," Jameson agreed. "On a side note, where the hell does it all go! Seriously; you ate, like, three meals!"

"It's wonder she stays as skinny as she does," Grey pointed out. Even Vulpix had to agree. It had been a source of confusion for her for years as to how Rachel ate as much as she did but still maintained her figure. She'd tried to find an explanation, but her having what humans called a 'tapeworm' was very unlikely.

"Lady has to have her secrets, Jimmy." Rachel giggled and winked.

"I love a girl who can eat," Danny laughed. Grey shot him another death glare that practically roared 'Try anything with my sister and I'm having the onix kill you slowly'. "Okay, okay, calm down, Grey."

"Shut up, Danny," the boy deadpanned. He turned to Jameson, looking to seal their bet. "So, it's a deal, then."

Jameson sighed. "If it'll get you to stop making these bets, then I agree. What're the rules?"

"Alright!" Grey cheered with a pump of his fist. "We both have to catch a pokémon by two o'clock today. If one of us doesn't, loser gives the winner half of his Gym Battle prize money."

"There's tons of plains land surrounding Mélange Town, anyway. This should be a piece of cake, right, Sniper?" Jameson turned to his first pokémon to see his snout buried in a licked-clean honey jar.

"Scyther!" came Sniper's muffled grunt.

"Well, if that's that," Danny said, pushing his empty plate to the center of the table, "We've got to get going. Full day planned." Grey's suspicion instantly flared, a red flag flying up in his mind.

"And just where the hell're you off to with my sister, huh?" Grey demanded suspiciously.

"Relax, Grey. He's just taking me to the museum. Nothing's going to happen," she soothed. She turned got up and placed her plate on top of Danny's and the two left the booth together. Rachel looked over her shoulder at Grey and winked, calling back, "See you later, little bro."

"Stupid girl…" he muttered back. Soul dropped the untouched bread from the sandwich onto Grey's plate and jumped down from his seat. He looked at Grey expectantly, wanting to get to the grasslands as quickly as possible.

"Well, I'm off, too, Jimmy boy," Grey said as he got up and stretched. "Gonna go catch a new pokémon and then check out the Gym Leader so I can strategize. Catch you later!" He stacked his plate on top of the pile, picked up his bag off the floor, and took off running to get Maverick. Soul and Lucy followed at a much calmer pace.

Jameson let out a satisfied sigh and decided to abandon the rest of his omelet. He looked up at Shishi and offered the rest to the black ghost only to get a rejection in return. As a Ghost-type, Shishi rarely needed to eat.

"If you say so," James shrugged. He got up from the booth and beckoned Sniper up, taking the honey jar and placing it in his bag.

"You've already had enough," he admonished with a smirk. "Come on; let's go and work off those sweets."

"Scy-thaa~" Sniper groaned in disappointment. "Scy scy."

Walking over and dropping the dirty plates off on top of the trash bin, James walked out of the Pokémon Centre, a tranquil smile on his face as the fresh air and pleasant sights of Mélange Town's urban district met his senses.

It was a small city with many mid-sized skyscrapers here and there but many smaller offices and such dominated the landscape. Since it was such a small town, most people walked and there was a scarcity of cars which suited James just fine. Less cars meant less disgusting smog and loud noise. Most prominent of the taller structures was Museum Tower, a building dedicated to displaying the largest number of archeological finds on the whole of Pacific Island. Jameson made a mental note to visit the place after his Gym Battle.

"Well, guys, let's get going. Don't want to lose to Grey or else he'll never let us live it down." He started down the sidewalk, not moving more than ten meters before bumping shoulders with someone.

"Oh, sorry about that," James apologized quickly. The man fixed him with an antagonizing stare before scoffing rudely and strutting off. He was dressed oddly, Jameson thought, decked out in a pristine white infantry uniform with a green tie and yellow epaulets. On his head rested a yellow beret and on back was an insignia: a pair of curled green wings framing the face of a majestic bird of prey.

"Hey, I said I was sorry," James called after him. The man only ignored him and continued on. "What was that about? If he's a military man on leave, I can understand if he's stressed, but, seriously."

"Scythaa…" Sniper hissed, boring a hole in the man's back with his glare. His wings flitted menacingly in irritation.

"Skull?" Shishi asked mischievously as he formed a Shadow Ball. Jameson laughed and shook his head.

"Not worth it, Shishi," he said, already shrugging it off and continuing down the sidewalk at a brisk pace.

"Plains land, here I come," he sang to himself.

* * *

At the same time, one Juniper Hawthorne had barricaded herself behind a mountain of books in the library, completely alone due to the 'all pokémon must be in their balls' rule. Juniper had out every single note she'd taken since the start of her stint traveling with Grey along with several books on human-pokémon interaction and pokémon growth. She had her pen and clipboard out as usual, copying lines from one of the pokémon growth books at a rate most people would consider superhuman. She placed the last punctuation mark before taking the paper and stapling it to the notes she had on Soul in one fluid, practiced motion.

About ten or so sixteen-page thick stacks of similar notes and findings were stacked to the right of her, now joined by their latest addition before June produced both her notes on Lucy, Maverick, and Heracross as well as a ludicrously thick volume on pokémon-human relationships.

"'Subject Lucy the Buizel; Day 1: Pokémon exhibits adverse reactions to being caught, a common response to the event. Lashes out physically at trainer with known moves as well as regular biting and scratching," June read monotonously from her notes. "'Days 3 - 12, Subject exhibits gradual acceptance of capture and begins to bond with trainer and assimilate with trainer's current team nicely. Subject Maverick the Onix reacts easily and extremely positively to praise from trainer which is unusual for this temperamental species. Theorized that trainer's influence and compassion acts as key element; further research into such behavior needed.'"

June blazed through three pages on the behavioral patterns of onix, noting that the species tended to be proud, before moving onto a one-page account of a trainer who owned an onix, saying that after four or so days after catching it, the onix became much calmer and reacted very well to praise. Smiling to herself, she copied the material down and stapled it to her notes on Maverick, satisfied with her work. Her pride lasted for all of a few moments before her smile was replaced with a dissatisfied and frustrated frown.

Since the Pokémon League had decided to move large numbers of foreign pokémon to the archipelago, June's interest as to whether or not pokémon training was a good or a bad thing for both parties was instantly sparked. However, now, - even though she was immensely proud of herself for working this hard and having taken so many notes on Grey and his pokémon - that topic seemed too…bland; too passé to gain any real recognition in the pokémon research community. Juniper didn't consider herself to be a glory hog but she _did _want to be recognized for her work. Recently, she'd been looking for a new research focus. Something that would really wow her and that had never been done before. Sighing, she placed her findings in a binder and got up to return the books she'd borrowed.

"Come on, Hawthorne. Think," June urged herself. "What's never been done before that's right here? Something interesting that you can study. Anything." Getting in line behind a portly man with a weight loss guide tucked under his arm, June began sifting through the archives of her memories for any sort of inspiration.

The effect of introducing Poison-type pokémon to a jungle area? No, the League wasn't stupid enough to do that. Comparing the regional growth sizes of the Magikarp species within the archipelago as opposed to that of the rest of the regions? Again, no.

Magikarp were utterly uninteresting to Juniper with the way they sat around in their lakes, streams, and rivers doing absolutely nothing. Plus, they were so common, it wouldn't even pose any sort of challenge for her to study that! The thought of being eaten by a newly-evolved gyarados was highly unappealing, too… Deciding to take a different approach as the line moved forward, Juniper restarted her process.

"Okay, so, I have…regional differences and the effects of foreign species introduction," she muttered to herself, unaware of the child behind her staring at her as if she were a madwoman. "Positive introduction, though… Wait, have there been any negative effects?" She'd never considered that. The League was very careful in choosing which kinds of pokémon to introduce to the islands based on their previous habitats and the geography of the different islands. They'd never, ever do something to harm to pokémon or the ecosystem.

"If I don't have that, then what do I study?" she whispered furiously. "It's not like I can go back home at this point and study how Torterra had substantially differed in color and exactly what had caused it." A few moments of silence passed - the portly man left and the child and librarian fixed June with puzzled gazes - before the proverbial thunderbolt of inspiration struck.

"But…maybe…" June began, eyes wide with realization. "Torterra probably changed colors because of the tropical climate it was introduced to… And it didn't seem bothered by the heat, so he was probably more tolerant to heat but less tolerant to cold because of it… Or maybe more even tolerant to cold because of the extreme shift in temperature…"

"Miss?" the librarian asked Juniper when she absently wandered to being at the front of the line. She failed to gain the girl's attention, however. June had just hit a potential jackpot and was in too deep to be saved. "Miss, I need those -"

"And, come to think of it, Lucy's fur is a lot darker than that of buizel found in Sinnoh. Most probably because of the increase in vitamin D she has been getting from the sun! It's like getting a tan for her fur and there isn't any telling what that did to make her and the other buizel living here more unique and powerful! Maverick's mineral composition, too! His colors aren't the same as onix in the other regions!"

"Uhm… M-Miss, I really need those books now," the librarian stuttered.

"Mommy, I'm scared…" the boy behind her whimpered.

"Eureka! I've got my research topic!" June declared, thrusting her finger into the sky and striking a dramatic victory pose. The mother and child behind her slowly backed away in fear and the librarian nearly had a heart attack out of shock. "The effect different climates have on newly introduced pokémon species compared to that of their home regions! Why didn't I think of this before!"

She finally noticed the timid librarian huddled under her desk and put her books into the return chute. June eagerly slammed her hands on the desk and said loudly,

"Quick! Point me to the nearest bookstore and give me directions into the plains! I've got work to do!"

* * *

"Okay, _this_ has to be the most amusing thing I've ever seen," Jameson chortled. Shishi gave another of his odd laughs while Sniper looked on, embarrassed for the zangoose they were observing.

The Cat Ferret Pokémon stood on a rock in the middle of the river and was apparently preaching something to the raticate and bidoof listening. Zangoose was gesticulating grandly and wildly, finishing its speech by striking a pose, one hand on its hip and with one claw raised to the sky.

_And that is why I am recruiting you, fellow pokémon!_ Zangoose declared. _We must band together and call together more of the plains pokémon so we can take over the grassland, and then the forest, and then the mountain until we eventually control the whole _island_! What say you?_

Raticate and Bidoof looked at each other, both obviously convinced that Zangoose was out of her mind.

_Dude, this chick is crazy,_ Raticate said skeptically.

_Let's get outta here. I'm hungry, man,_ Bidoof drawled.

_W-wait!_ Zangoose shouted. _There shall be food; mountains of it! I shall provide all that is needed, brethren! _Raticate and Bidoof ignored the crazed Zangoose and scurried off into the tall grass. Zangoose sighed in defeat and slumped on her perch.

_This gang is going nowhere,_ she spat. _How will we assert ourselves as the most powerful pokémon if we cannot band together and display our strengths! United we stand, people! UNITED!_

Jameson watched on and fought back a gale of laughter as Zangoose began to flail her arms wildly and snarl. The cat-ferret's tantrum was only too cute; it was as if Jameson was watching a child in a comedy.

"Scythaa." Sniper pointed to Zangoose and then at Jameson's pocket.

"Scan it? Alright then. Speak to me, O wise Dextette," James joked in a grandiose voice. He pointed the camera lens on the Pokédex and it brought up a mirror image of Zangoose.

**Zangoose, the Cat Ferret Pokémon. Zangoose's weapons of choice are the two pairs of ten-inch claws present on both front paws. They are quick and agile both on all fours or on two feet and are viciously cruel fighters. Zangoose are famous for the blood feud between their species and Seviper, the Fang Snake Pokémon, which has been going on for several generations. Their hatred for one another is so powerful that Zangoose and Seviper are overcome by an uncontrollable urge to immediately begin a brutal brawl when they sense one another's presence.**

**Gender: Female**

"And I just found my capture target," James muttered with confidence. "Shishi, Sniper, who'd like to do the honors?" The duskull groaned loudly, not wanting to give up basking in the sun for a brawl with an uncivilized furball. Sniper, however, jumped at the chance.

"Thanks, buddy. Now, let's get this done; Swords Dance into Slash!" Sniper spun around, scythes glowing deep purple, and rocketed forward with explosive speed. He sped through the grass and kept low to the ground to make it seem as if a torpedo were shooting towards Zangoose.

In an instant, Zangoose's instincts kicked in, alerting her to the scyther's presence. She unsheathed her long, threatening black claws and lazily raised them up to block Sniper's slash with a loud, oddly metallic-sounding clang. The force of the collision actually sent a shockwave bursting through the water.

_So, ya wanna join me gang, eh, bug?_ asked Zangoose, her eyes covered by her fur and her personality shifting into more serious and feral state. She gave Sniper a maniacal, frenzied grin, rose-colored eyes glinting dangerously. _Sounds good. But first, ya got to beat me in a fight._

_G-Gang?_ Sniper repeated in confusion. _No, I just wanted to battle you so my trainer could maybe -_

_Trainer? Well, a trainer's bound to have other pokémon I can recruit and if he's got friends, that means even more! _Zangoose cheered, shifting back to normal. _You've got yourself a deal, blade bug. You win and I go with you; I win and you join me gang. Better not lose. _

Jameson watched as the wild zangoose jumped off her perch and onto another rock in the river. Sniper did the same, buzzing to another rock on the opposite side. With some amusement, he noticed how the two pokémon's actions were not unlike those signaling the start of an official duel. When Sniper took his usual battle stance and Zangoose unsheathed her other two claws, it only served to make it look that much more similar.

"Sniper, get ready. When she attacks, you dodge and then -"

"Zan…goooose!" Zangoose cried savagely as she leapt from her perch and grabbed Sniper by his left wing to throw him onto the riverbank. She shifted back to mania mode and set her claws ablaze with crackling energy. Zangoose then tore at Sniper with a wild Crush Claw attack, slamming his head into the ground with the left set before pulling him back up by his head and ripping across his midsection with the others. The scyther let out a pained screech and Jameson jumped into action.

"Sniper! Push her away!" Sniper gritted his teeth and roundhouse kicked Zangoose away, sending her sliding away. Zangoose jammed one claw in the ground to slow herself down and fixed Sniper with a debilitating Leer. She lunged forward with Quick Attack; Sniper parried her strike, focused all his power into his attacks, and lashed out with his still-glowing blade. Sniper's Slash attack opened up a thin gash on the red mark on Zangoose's chest. It bled, blending in nicely with the striking crimson fur. Zangoose slowly wiped off some of the blood using her claws and eyed it before licking it off.

_Nice shot, bug,_ she laughed darkly. Sniper felt a shiver run through the whole of his exoskeleton.

"This pokémon is _crazy!_" James cried. "Sniper, keep from getting hit; parry all of her attacks!" Sniper grunted an affirmative and winged forward with Quick Attack as Zangoose did the same.

Both of their claws glowed white in synchrony as dual Slash attacks met again and again with loud clanging. Blow after blow, the two pokémon dueled spiritedly dueled: Zangoose aimed again for Sniper's thorax only to lop off the heads of about a hundred innocent blades of grass when Sniper took to the air. He aimed himself before rocketing back down and slamming her with Wing Attack.

"Sniper, Focus Energy one more time," Jameson commanded, regaining his cool. Scyther again directed his energy towards tightening his muscles in hopes of landing a devastating finisher. Zangoose snarled excitedly and raised both her fists over her head to bash her opponent's head into the ground again. Sniper parried the blow and aimed for her head but Zangoose ducked in a flash, literally falling into the ground.

"She knows Dig," James noted in interest. "Sniper, wait for her to come back out and use Double Team." Sniper stood stock still and closed off his sight to concentrate. The only sound in the entire area was the wind gently rustling through the grass. He crossed his arms and empowered them with X-Scissor, lightly buzzing his wings every so often.

"Zang!" Zangoose cried as she burst out of the ground with her claws raised. Sniper pushed off the ground with a combination of his wings and legs and immediately burst apart into ten Sniper clones, all of which buzzed around Zangoose in a furious and confusing swarm.

"Zang…goose!" Zangoose murmured in shock. She swung, swatting one scyther out of existence while the other nine converged and slashed her with their blades. Zangoose held back her cry of pain and dropped to one knee, arms hanging limp, all of her strength suddenly fading fast.

"Critical hit; phenomenal, Sniper!" Jameson cheered. Sniper smiled proudly at the praise.

_Okay,_ Zangoose grunted, _you've got some moves; I'll admit it._

_All thanks to my trainer,_ Sniper boasted. _Now are you going to come along quietly or do I have to get rou-_

_Chew on _this_! _Zangoose roared, revealing the shimmering blue orb of water between her paws and ramming it into Sniper. The Water Pulse exploded and drenched Sniper with a monster wave. The wave pushed him back and disoriented him long enough for Zangoose to the proverbial ace out of her sleeve. Her fist crackled to life with static electricity collected from the air and she drove it into a dripping wet Sniper's stomach. The deadly combination amplified the lightning surging through Sniper's body as well as his distressed screams.

"ThunderPunch?" Jameson shouted in disbelief even though his drive to catch Zangoose went up by that much more.

"Duskull!" Shishi bemoaned his seemingly fallen friend.

Body still sparking from being electrocuted, Sniper fell face down in the grass. Zangoose stood over his body victoriously and dragged the downed scyther back up to look at his face.

_Looks like I win, blade bug. Welcome to Zangoose's gang,_ the cat-ferret said smugly. Jameson anxiously rushed to his scyther out of concern, Duskull right behind him.

"Sniper, get back up!" he called as he ran, pushing his way through the waist-high grass. "Come on, Snipe; don't lose here! Kick her ass!"

_Sorry, human; he lost to me!_ Zangoose declared._ Say bye-bye to your trainer, little buggy. _Sniper's wings twitched in irritation and his eyes snapped open, boring holes in Zangoose's own. She intended to pull him away from Jameson and Sniper would sooner die than let anything like that happen.

_You really need to learn to think before you speak, mutt!_ Sniper roared. He shoved her away from him and crossed his scythes. One moment, Zangoose was about to strike, her fur on end and claws at the ready; the next, Sniper was suddenly behind her, his blades shining proudly and his arms fully extended. The world finally noticed that something had happened and opened up a shallow but painful X-shaped wound on Zangoose's abdomen. She looked down at the startlingly bloodless gashes, then over in Sniper's direction. The Mantis Pokémon fixed her with a hard gaze and a grin of victory before everything became blurry to Zangoose.

_Am I…dying?_ she asked, horrified.

_You're not,_ Sniper replied reassuringly, lowering his guard. Zangoose let out a sigh of relief that morphed into one of defeat when she fell forward limply, barely able to hold onto her consciousness. _I just won. _Sniper pointed at the barely awake Zangoose and nodded at Jameson.

"Sniper, you rule, buddy," James replied ecstatically. He dramatically produced a poké ball from his jacket pocket, enlarged it, and spun it on one finger before throwing it at Zangoose, crying,

"Poké ball, finalize!" The ball landed on Zangoose's head and consumed her in a flash of red light. The ball struggled fiercely, jumping and shaking and rolling every which way until it finally stopped. Jameson coolly walked over and collected his newest capture to scan it with his Pokédex.

"Sniper, remind me to buy you a big lollipop when we get back to town. You were amazing out there," James congratulated. Through his heavy, tired breathing, Sniper mumbled humbly and rubbed the back of his dirt-coated head.

_You did good, Sniper,_ Shishi said simply. _That last move was way too fast for me to see._

_Eh, well… X-Scissor finishers…are my specialty,_ Sniper replied, panting.

**Known moves,** Dextette announced. **Slash, Quick Attack, Swords Dance, Water Pulse, ThunderPunch, Crush Claw, Leer, Fury Cutter, Detect, Dig**

"Man, what a find. Are we lucky or what?"

"Skull skull," Shishi laughed mischievously.

"But I get a feeling we're going to have our hands full with this one, guys. She's kind of…" Jameson searched for a nicer phrase than 'clinically insane'.

_Crazy, you mean? _Sniper suggested after catching his breath. _She licked the blood off her claws like it was freakin' pancake syrup. Seriously, that chick is crazy._

_Crazy, yes. Amusing, also yes,_ Shishi snickered.

"Well, I guess I'd better name our newest addition, huh? How about…Luna?" James suggested, hoping his pokémon would like the name.

_Perfect,_ Shishi nodded, not really caring what name the psychotic Zangoose was given.

_Yeah, now we can call her Loopy Luna,_ Sniper said with a childishly petulant look at Luna's new poké ball.

"I want you guys to behave around Luna, okay?" Jameson said with a note of warning. "Sniper, no pranks and Shishi… Well, there's not much you _could _do to her, considering you're a Ghost-type, but you're wily, so don't even think of doing what you're thinking of doing." The two pokémon deflated visibly. Sniper at least thought that after getting his head rammed into the hard ground by a Crush Claw, he should be allowed at least some payback. Shishi just would've found it funny if he and Sylva messed with her.

"Good," Jameson said, pleased with their reaction. "Now, let's get back to the Centre and have those wounds treated."

* * *

"'Elite team' my ass!" Otto roared. He slammed his hands on the mahogany table and nearly broke it in two. "What the _hell_ do you mean they aren't here yet?" The messenger grunt quivering before him was nearly reduced to tears. Otto laughed cruelly in his mind; it had to be the most hilarious thing in the world to see a grown man break down like this.

"S-Sir, HQ called from Hoenn," came the grunt's pathetic whimper. "Their team…just isn't r-ready yet. They're d-demanding more payment and -"

"MORE WHAT?" Otto was outraged. Team Regal had paid those ungrateful mercenaries three times their normal fee to even consider joining the organization and now they wanted more money? "Well, you can tell them that they can forget it! I could send in one person and pay them an eighth of their ludicrous price and they'd do it in half the time! Go tell HQ!" The grunt stood motionless, rooted to the spot by fear.

"I SAID GO!" The grunt jumped nearly a foot in the air and bolted out of the room but not before crashing into the door and bruising his nose. Otto finally let out the chuckle he'd been holding in and sat back in his seat to think.

The dark office in Team Regal's Kingston Headquarters wasn't lavishly decorated. The man occupying it wasn't that sort of person. No, all he needed was a desk, a computer, a bookshelf, and a few chairs and Otto was fine. However, the fish tank full of carvanha was a personal touch.

He stood up from his seat, his skuntank following haughtily, and walked to the fish tank. Taking out a poké ball, he opened it and let out the goldeen inside with a flash of silver light. Immediately, the carvanha flew into a feeding frenzy, tearing the poor fish pokémon apart and staining the water red with its blood. Otto grinned.

"Now, to address our current problem," he frowned. "Skuntank, what do you suggest?"

"Skutaaa…" the foul-smelling creature drawled.

"Personally, I think we should go with the one man approach. Knowing Kestrel, if the bastard really is leading the operation they have planned, he'll want to make it as flashy as possible. That'll be our opening." Skuntank nuzzled its owner's portly-but-muscled leg, curling his way around it before going over to eat his kibble.

"A single person would be better than sending an entire squad," Otto repeated, "but which one out of this batch of idiots is suited for the job?" He mentally cycled through all the operatives currently under his command and immediately dismissed three-fourths of them as incompetent, blundering dumb-asses. In his mind, their only use was either as food for his tyranitar or shoveling coal.

Finally, the weeding out stopped, leaving the most capable operative in Otto's mind the only viable option. With a devious and mustachioed grin, he strode to his desk and hit the button on his intercom.

"Gloria," he boomed.

"Yes, Sir Otto?" the nasally voice answered back.

"Please send in operative 0193 to my office. I have an assignment for her," Otto explained while doing an excellent job of keeping the evil smirk out of his voice.

"Right away, sir."

A few moments later, Quinn, eyes hidden by her helmet, and her bayleef entered the room. Both of them bowed in respect for their commanding officer and Quinn saluted. "You called me here, sir?" she asked in a stereotypical soldier's voice.

"Yes. It seems that 'elite' team of mercenaries that we hired is overcharging us in order to execute our newest plan. As you know, we cannot summon Regirock without the other half of the stone tablet we unearthed. It's currently housed in Mélange Town's Museum Tower and, without it, we cannot be led to the Stone Shrine," Otto explained. Skuntank finished his meal and jumped onto his owner's lap to be stroked.

"I understand perfectly, sir," Quinn said. "But what will you have me do?"

"Isn't it obvious, you stupid girl?" Otto spat. "Go to Mélange Town; be there by tomorrow via your staraptor. If our intel is correct, then Team Simurgh will execute a takeover of the town very soon in order to get into Museum Tower and destroy the tablet before we are able to retrieve it. They also seem to be after something themselves, but you can just leave that there as we don't know what it is yet."

"I humbly accept your request. I shall not let you down, Sir Otto," Quinn said confidently. Otto dismissed her with a rude wave of his hand and a grunt. Once outside, Quinn gave Bayleef a sly smirk.

"Well, boy, just a few more jobs for these losers and we can go home," she said under her breath.

"Bay," the Leaf Pokémon barked stoically.

* * *

"Man, it really is a great day, huh, Soul?" Grey asked with a grin. He stood on the outskirts of the rural district of Mélange Town, Lucy stood next to him. Behind them, small houses and farms were placed a good distance apart from one another. This had no bearing on the activity of the small town, as people and their pokémon worked and played in the street with no worries whatsoever.

In front of him, the plains stretched out for miles upon miles on the southern, eastern, and western sides that Grey knew were teeming with pokémon. Grey silently and grudgingly thanked Danny in his head; he would _not _have liked to walk the entire way across the plains. This thought was further reinforced by a herd of tauros proudly thundering by several miles away and knocking down one of the plain's sparse trees with frightening ease. He imagined himself as that poor tree, but his imagination stopped when the make-believe herd was barely a centimeter away.

"I should probably thank the flirty punk," he admitted with a reluctant tone, shuddering at his overactive imagination.

"Chaaar…." Soul gawked from atop Maverick's head. He shifted to get a better look at the west side of the plains. He pointed out a wide, meandering, crystal blue river in the distance to Maverick who responded with a disgusted shudder. "Char char charmander!"

"A river, huh?" Grey said thoughtfully. "Well, there are bound to be pokémon there looking for a drink. But we don't need another Water-type for now, so let's go check out the rest of the area."

Lucy felt a slight pang of guilt at that. She was still set on switching trainers to Grey's sister and she was certain that her current one would be heavily disappointed. Nevertheless, she kept her mouth shut and climbed up onto Maverick's head when Grey moved into the waist high grass.

_Y'alright there, runt? _Maverick rumbled. _Practically shaking in yer fur._

_It's nothing,_ Lucy sighed.

_Yeah, right,_ snorted Soul. _I may be young, but I'm not stupid. What's on your mind, rival?_

_Rival?_ Lucy raised an eyebrow before ignoring it for the moment and continuing. _You remember yesterday when his sister caught Heracross? Well, I was thinking that maybe I'd switch trainers…_ She looked away at the shocked expression Soul gave her, partially ashamed at what she'd said.

_Sw…Switch trainers? Can somebody even do that!_ Soul said, aghast. _And why?_

_Switching trainers… Heh, interestin' concept. You've got guts, rodent, _Maverick said with a throaty laugh.

_Thank you? _She honestly didn't know what to make of the half-compliment.

_Still didn't answer my question,_ Soul pointed out, clutching Maverick's horn tighter as the Rock Snake Pokémon went over a bump in the ground.

_Sorry 'bout that, lizard,_ Maverick said offhandedly.

_I want to see what it's like to be a Pokémon Ranger's pokémon, that's all, _Lucy assured. _If I don't like it, then I'll go right back to being on this team; I swear._

_And if you do like it? _Soul asked, a note of bitterness present. _Who am I gonna compete against if you go to Rachel's team? What'll Grey do?_

_Yuh can still compete against her. The pink-headed one's still tagging along with us, _Maverick said sagely before Lucy could answer. _And, if I'm not mistaken, Grey's a pokémon trainer. He'll catch a new pokémon to replace the rodent. 'S bad as that sounds, it's bound to happen, and fast, too. Kid can hardly sit still long enough not to go off and do that. Yuh'll still be the first pokémon he ever caught, so he won' stop bein' nice to ye just 'cause of this._

Lucy and Soul mulled over Maverick's surprising words of wisdom before concurrently sighing. The both of them acknowledged that Maverick was indeed correct in saying what he did.

_Guess you're right, Maverick. Thanks, I guess,_ Lucy said awkwardly.

_Mention it and I'll squeeze you until your eyes pop out of that pretty little head o' yours, _Maverick replied, deathly serious. _But, yer welcome anyway._

"What're you guys talkin' about?" Grey asked, oblivious, as he sat between Soul and Lucy.

_Play it cool; play it cool, _urged Soul. _Tell him later._

"Bui!" Lucy barked at Grey.

"Good to hear," the boy smiled. "Now, then…" He stood up and shielded his eyes from the harsh but comforting sunlight, searching for a pokémon to catch.

"We gotta aim a little lower than Heracross, guys. A small pokémon that hasn't evolved yet so we can start from scratch and bond quickly. But not too young of a pokémon; we don't want to mess anything up for it," Grey mused.

_Maybe we could catch an Electric-type?_ Maverick suggested. Soul shuddered, disgusted at the very thought.

_No way; Grey will never catch one of those annoying little sparklers!_ he said vehemently. _He knows how much I hate their damned attacks._

"Y'know, an Electric-type would be a good addition," Grey mused. "Wonder if there're any around here."

_You're actually considering this?_ Soul yelled, mouth hanging open in indignation. Grey set his Pokédex to Search Mode and touched the icon for Electric-types.

"Okay, we need to find a pokémon that will fit in well with the three of you pretty well; a balanced pokémon," he explained.

During the time spent from before his rematch with Emily and now, Grey had learned to use the Pokédex to analyze his team's strengths and weaknesses in order to strategize effectively. Lucy was fast, strong, and fragile; Soul was well rounded on all fronts and excelled in special based attacks; Maverick was an absorber of physical attacks, but was cumbersome in his movements and was both weak to special attacks and couldn't dish them out too well.

After considering these factors, Grey decided to use the Pokédex to look up anything he could catch that would best fit his current team. Being so selective didn't sit well with Grey, but he didn't want to build the wrong team and end up messing up his relationship with his pokémon.

"Chaa char?" _Done yet?_ Soul asked after a while. He pulled Grey's arm lower to see the Pokédex had narrowed the options down to about five... Or three… Or seven. Soul never could count well.

"I've got it narrowed down to a few," Grey announced. He paused to look around and see that Maverick had moved a fair distance into the grassland. "Maverick, stop for a bit and stand up higher." Maverick grumbled softly and did as asked.

"Thank you," Grey muttered distractedly. Grabbing hold of Maverick's horn for balance, he scoped out the area. The tauros herd had moved off well into the western distance and along the river was a flock of mareep led by a skittish ampharos. A nidoking and nidoqueen protectively stood by as a family of their pre-evolutions ate from one of the lower-lying berry trees. "Okay, Pokédex, work your magic." It dinged, bringing up the image of an electrike.

**Electrike, the Lightning Pokémon. Can be found in areas resembling grasslands. Electrike evolves into Manectric, one of the fastest Electric-type pokémon known to currently exist. Electrike and Manectric excel in speed and specially based attacks, but are not known to be very durable on either defensive front.**

Grey shook his head in rejection. "Nah; 's fast but can't take a hit too well and that's what we have Lucy for."

"Bui!" Lucy barked, insulted.

"Heh heh, sorry, girl. Didn't mean any offense. Okay, onto the next one: mareep." Another ding preceded the data.

**Mareep, the Wool Pokémon. Evolves into Flaafy and again into Ampharos. Like all Electric-types, these pokémon excel in special moves and are unique in that they are incredibly durable and have decent physical power, but at the price of a massive cutback in speed.**

Almost immediately, Grey rejected the option. He looked over at the mareep flock and said, "We need something faster with the durability of an ampharos."

_I'd love to fight that,_ Lucy snorted at the flock. _I'd take it out in an instant._

_Yeah, maybe after you get fried by a Thunderbolt, Little Miss Stamina,_ Soul snickered. He received a retaliatory double whipping from Lucy's tails. _Ow, ow! Okay; sorry! Jeez…_

"Lucy, stop whipping Soul," admonished Grey.

_Haha, you're whipped,_ Lucy chuckled. Grey shook his head before looking up the next pokémon.

**Elekid and Electabuzz, the Electric Pokémon.** The Pokédex brought up the images of the two one after the other. **Electabuzz will later become Electivire, the Thunderbolt Pokémon. Physically fragile, these pokémon follow the typical conventions of their type: speed and special attack power. They differ in the fact that they are also physically powerful, although Electivire have been known to be explosively violent.**

"Explosively violent…" Grey repeated warily. His imagination started up again, a scenario where an electivire viciously attacked Soul and Lucy over a trivial matter before knocking Maverick into the sky with Focus Punch bursting to life in his mind.

"Uh, Soul, how do you feel about that choice?" he asked with noticeable unease.

_No thank you! _Soul immediately protested.

_I'd like to live, please…_ Lucy shuddered.

_You two are spineless!_ Maverick heartily guffawed.

_Easy for you to say, Ground-type!_ Soul hollered.

"Okay, fine," Grey sighed. "Anything else?" A proud roar in the distance drowned out anything the Pokédex might have said. Lucy and Grey were nearly scared right off Maverick's head - a nearly thirty foot fall down - while Soul merely blinked in surprise.

"The hell was that!" Grey screamed as he pulled himself back up on Maverick's head. Several smaller and high pitched roars followed that, accompanied further by dogs barking.

"And now there are dogs?" He hoisted himself back up and Soul handed him the Pokédex eagerly. Maverick turned his head at the source of the sound, forcing Grey to do the same. Hidden exceptionally well by the cloak of tall grass was a pride led by a luxray accompanied by a manectric pack. Both fully evolved pokémon were accompanied by their pre-evolutions: three shinx, two luxio, and four electrike cubs. Naturally, the younger generations were excellently protected by the heads of the joint pack.

"That explains the dogs but I've never seen those pokémon before," Grey observed, referring to the lion cubs. "Any answers, Dexter?"

**Shinx, Luxio, and Luxray, the Flash, Spark, and Gleam Eyes Pokémon. **Dexter displayed pictures of the pokémon in that order. **These pokémon generally travel in groups called prides. Unusually for their type, they are more proficient in physical attacks but are above average special attackers as well. They also possess phenomenal stamina and durability. They are not as fast as the majority of their type but make up for it in agility.**

"Now you're speaking my language!" Grey climbed down his onix's back, stopping to tell Maverick to lay flat on the ground when he got to the bottom. "Soul, Lucy, let's go. Maverick, hang out here for a bit," he whispered. The two hopped off of Maverick and followed their trainer, Soul holding his tail close so as not to start a brushfire.

Grey crouched down low and hid himself within the grass so as to inch closer to the pride without being noticed. He slid a poké ball out of his pocket and stopped when he made it to the edge of the river, throwing an arm out to stop his pokémon. Ampharos and the mareep gave the human scrutinizing gazes before dismissing him as no threat.

Grey poked his head just above the grass to get a better view of the pride and almost couldn't believe his luck when one of the shinx wandered away from her siblings and into the tall grass on its own. He edged closer, not wanting to alert the pride leaders to his presence, moving parallel to the young cub. When it was far enough away, Grey showed himself to the cub.

Immediately, the cub's eyes steeled and its entire body tensed up. Its eyes glowed a menacing yellow and it bared its fangs in a way that made Soul shrink back a bit. Lucy was less than impressed with the show of bravado. Noticing that it needed to be more intimidating, the shinx cub growled an oddly cute sounding growl and increased the power of its glare, succeeding in making the buizel back away.

"Aww, that's kind of cute," Grey cooed. "But enough of that; get in the poké ball." He pulled his arm back and prepared to throw, but the shinx was faster. Taking Grey's movements as a sign of hostility, it called out for its mother and flashed a dazzling gold, becoming a living beacon.

"What the heck's it doing?" Grey hissed in fear.

**If they feel threatened, Shinx cubs will flash brightly to alert any nearby pride members, most often its mother,** Dexter spoke.

"_Now_ you decide to tell me this!" Grey shouted angrily.

The mother luxray heard her child's cry and stared into the depths of the tall grass with the use of her enhanced vision. Seeing right through the grass and straight at Grey and his pokémon, she leapt into defense of her child. In an instant, the luxray bounded onto the scene, her eyes gleaming with many more volumes of killing intent than could ever be mustered by her child. She let out a truly spine-chilling growl, baring her deadly fangs at the intruding trainer.

"Son of a bitch…" Grey moaned, suddenly wishing he'd never targeted the shinx.

* * *

"You're a curious little specimen, aren't you, Nidoran?" Juniper said with a friendly tone. The young female Poison Pin Pokémon squeaked in confusion.

June was knelt down in the grass, fully enveloped by it, as she studied the nidoran's complexion. She was much lighter than the Kanto, Johto, and Sinnoh natives of her species, reaching a light periwinkle in color and the venomous spines on her back were much sharper than normal. The only thing normal about this nidoran was that, like all other female members of her species, she was docile and did not attack Juniper while she studied her.

"I really am glad I switched research topics," June said with a satisfied smile. "It gives me a good challenge and a readily available source of research subjects. Plus, I'm traveling with two trainers, so that just makes things even better for me." She giggled and placed the last period on her notes, getting up to head back to town.

"Nidaynya?" Nidoran peeped when she saw that Juniper was getting up to leave.

"Sorry, Nidoran, it's time for me to head back now," June apologized. "You should probably head back to your family; I bet they are worried about you." Nidoran let out a saddened mewl and hurriedly chased after Juniper as she started to leave.

"Nidoran, really," Juniper huffed. "I cannot have you following me around like this! If your papa Nidoking comes looking for you, I will be in very big trouble!"

"Nido nidya!" Nidoran persisted. Juniper knelt down and stared straight into the Poison-type's eyes, slightly annoyed.

"What is it? Are you hungry?" she asked her. "I do not have any food with me; only these." June reached into the pocket of her lab coat and produced a poké ball, still in its miniaturized state. Curious about the strange red-and-white capsule, Nidoran poked the button in the center with her nose and jumped back with a start when the ball grew in size.

"Yes, it tends to do that," Juniper chuckled. Nidoran pushed the button again, much to Juniper's surprise, and was sucked up into the ball in an instant. The ball didn't shake even once before signaling the capture. Unsure of what to say, Juniper stared at the poké ball dumbly until the words came to her.

"I just caught a nidoran…? I guess?" she asked the air. "Wait until I tell Grey about this one." A sudden roar out in the distance rudely grabbed her attention and hoarded it for itself. Juniper's heart leapt into her throat and she gave a huge jump of surprise herself.

"I think that was a luxray," she said, a bit shaken. "Hope the boys are alright out there. It is not advisable to approach a luxray as angry as that one sounds." If Juniper knew the situation Grey was in, she might've laughed at the irony of her words.

* * *

"Chaaaar…" Soul whimpered fearfully as he scurried behind Grey's leg. Lucy did the same and clutched onto the boy's shin for dear life. Grey wanted to call for Maverick's help but his voice had abandoned him, scared off by the enraged mother pokémon. He stood there, trembling and helpless as his Pokédex again dispensed information.

**Mother luxray are famously protective of their offspring. They will viciously maul anything they deem to be a threat to the safety of their children.**

"_Something I could've been told earlier!"_ Grey screamed in his head. _"Useless piece of…"_ His head suddenly exploded in pain as waves of maternal rage suddenly attacked his consciousness. It radiated from the mother luxray in droves and he tried to back away and seem like less of a threat. Luxray roared, summoning the other members of her pride who appeared in a flash. Grey felt himself bump into something large with coarse fur that shocked him when he touched it. He turned around and saw the father manectric's snarling chops were mere inches away from biting into Grey's throat and tearing it out.

"_This seems to be happening to me a lot lately,"_ Grey noticed as more anger from the pride members reached him.

_It's been a pleasure serving with you, Lucy,_ Soul resigned in a dignified voice.

_See you in hell, partner,_ Lucy responded.

Grey looked around desperately but there was absolutely no way out for him; he was completely surrounded by all eleven Electric-types, all wanting to attack. Luxray strutted forward dangerously, exuding an aura of pride and dignity as she did so, and stared Grey in the eyes as if to say,

_You have one chance to explain yourself, human._

"L-Listen!" he shouted, instantly regretting it when the luxio flanking him roared back and took threatening steps closer. "Sorry… But I meant no harm. I swear."

"Char!" Soul yipped with quick and frantic nods. Disbelief was now the dominant emotion from the pride.

"I swear," Grey repeated when he sensed it. "I, uh… I wanted to maybe capture one of you… To, y'know, fight with me…?" Luxray roared in furious indignation. Grey resisted the urge to cover his ringing ears and the herd Ampharos was leading immediately took off in fear.

_My child?_ Luxray snarled as she moved forward once more. Grey now sensed an intense killing aura practically fly off the lioness. He himself felt guilty for even thinking of breaking up their family as he began to remember what Rachel had said about it. He hurriedly stuffed the poké ball back into his jacket pocket.

_He's a pokémon trainer; it's what he does!_ Lucy came to the defense of the human boy. _If he did capture one of your kin, he'd never mistreat them! I give you my word as a pokémon he captured himself!_

_Why should that matter to us? He was going to steal one of our family from us against her will and that is punishable by death,_ Manectric declared. The shinx Grey was targeting came out from behind her mother and boldly approached Grey, who fought the pleading voice in his head telling him to run and remained calm. She locked glowing yellow orbs with the human's hazel ones, trying to see if he harbored any ill intent. She could find none. Shinx called her mother forward and she came without hesitation, staring into Grey's fear-filled hazel orbs herself.

"I'm sorry; I didn't… I mean…" Grey struggled to find the words in the face of potential death. "I'm a trainer, yeah…but I'd never ever hurt a pokémon. Soul here is my best friend and I raised him from birth, so you know that I never harmed him." The charmander in question gave a meek wave. Grey lowered himself to Luxray's eye level, trying to look as honest as he possibly could.

"I'm sorry," he repeated. "Really, I am. If you're going to punish me, fine… Just don't hurt Soul or Lucy." Soul finally found his courage again and stepped out from behind Grey.

_He's telling the truth. Plus, he can understand pokémon… Sort of. Do you think he'd even know to say anything to you guys if he didn't?_

At this, the pride backed off a little and the waves of rage that Grey sensed slightly reduced. A human that could understand pokémon? As far as the pride knew, that was nigh impossible.

_Prove it, then,_ one of the electrike demanded. _What's our papa feeling right now besides being real mad?_ Soul translated the message to his trainer.

"Prove it?" he asked unsurely. He looked over his shoulder at Manectric, who gave him a stoic nod. Concentrating as hard as he could, Grey attempted to block out or at least dull the other emotions bombarding him at the moment to focus on Manectric's.

"Uhm… You're feeling…defensive," Grey mumbled. "And annoyed with me…and…" Grey's stomach growled loudly, striking him as odd since breakfast was only an hour ago.

"You… You're hungry?" he said, incredulous. Manectric blinked twice before nodding.

_I am… So you can understand us?_

"Sort of. Just not everything," Grey explained. "Can we go now? I'll leave and I won't bother you guys again." Luxray grudgingly nodded, pushing Grey forward with her paw. Grey got up and he and his pokémon slowly backed out of the ring the pride had formed around him.

"Thank you," he said respectfully. "Come on, you two; let's get back to Maverick and look for another pokémon." He turned around to run, only to be rammed in the back by something small and furry. Grey fell forward and slammed his head into the ground, Soul and Lucy rushing to his aid.

"Ow! I said I was sorry; what the hell was - ?"

"Shiyaaah!" came the proud meow. Grey rubbed the dust out of his eyes, putting his glasses back and looking at the very Shinx he'd targeted staring back up at him defiantly. Luxray rushed forward concernedly and tried to pull her child away but the shinx tenaciously pushed back her paw, hissing at Grey in challenge. Shinx made her fur stand on end, narrowed her golden eyes, and raised her tail into the air in an attempt to look threatening.

Grey immediately picked up waves of what could only be described as bold pride coming from Shinx. Shinx's enthusiasm energized him obliterating his prior fear and replacing it with a confident grin. "I guess she recognizes strength when she sees it," Grey said cockily.

Manectric barked angrily at his child, ordering her to return to him but the strong-willed Flash Pokémon stayed where she was, unflinchingly challenging Grey.

"Soul, translation," Grey requested.

"Char char. Charmander. Man, charmander," Soul reeled off.

"So she wants a battle. And if I win, then I get to catch her? That the general gist of it?" Soul nodded and his trainer grinned, only to have it wiped off when Luxray roared in protest. Soul stepped forward bravely, ignoring the fact that he could easily become a morsel for the bigger pokémon.

_It's her choice, Luxray. If Grey wins, then I can promise you your kid won't be hurt, so just calm yourself. _Luxray and Manectric both glared at Soul and his human but honored their child's wishes by backing off, ordering their family to do the same.

"Soul, step up." He took out his Pokédex and Soul gave a slight nod and took his place in front of his trainer, flexing his claws and grinning. "Wait, hold on." Luxray and her family growled in annoyance.

"The grass is too high. How're they supposed to see? " Grey pointed out innocently. Shooting a look that said 'Is that it?', Luxray stepped forward, the three rings on her front paws cloaked with an evil black light. With one swipe, she cut down a circle of grass to create a miniature battlefield. Shinx stood at one end of it and growled.

The Flash pokémon made the first move and pulled electricity out of the dry air with Charge before shooting it back out with Shock Wave. Grey hurriedly told Soul to dodge and the little lizard did a diving roll to the side before being blasted in the back by Shinx's attack. His body numb, Soul forced his body to respond and breathed out a Smokescreen.

"Shock Wave," Grey read off the Pokédex. "In that case, we need to get in close. Soul, rush her and use Scratch!"

"Chaaaaaar!" Soul cried as he recklessly charged into his smokescreen with his claws fully extended. Shinx streaked out of the cloud with smoke trailing after her and launched another Shock Wave. Soul was sent numbly to his knees with electrical burns before being a follow-up Quick Attack that sent him into a dizzying back flip.

_Hate…Electric-types…_so_ much…_ Soul edgily growled.

"Come on, buddy," Grey muttered nervously while Soul forced himself back up. Shinx blew a raspberry at Soul as she charged up another Shock Wave attack. A cub was toying with them like it was nothing, thought Grey. If they wanted any chance at getting stronger - and save themselves from any more humiliation - he and Soul would have to turn the tables on Shinx and capture her.

"I have to think!" Grey berated himself. "Think on your feet in battle; that's one of the most important trainer skills…"

Shinx began to toy with Soul now, much to the amusement of her family, and switched to physical hits, streaking towards Soul with Quick Attack while the charmander relied on his reflexes to dodge and deliver a furious Metal Claw to her head. Shinx's head was driven into the ground, actually skidding as her Quick Attack failed her.

"Shiyaah!" Shinx shrieked after she righted herself. Her body began to spark with dancing electricity and she took off in an all-out run at Soul. Soul zealously avoided her Spark attack and pitched an Ember into Shinx at close range. Her fur singed, Shinx glared at her orange assaulter and set her eyes ablaze with menacing light. Intimidate made Soul take a few steps back but his annoyed gaze never left Shinx.

"Bui buizeru!" Lucy called out supportively.

"That was the Intimidate ability…" Grey noted. Shinx began to charge up again and Soul sucked his teeth in annoyance. He'd already taken enough electrical attacks and he wasn't about to let himself take more. Sensing Soul's emotions let Grey come to a quick solution.

"Soul, when she launches Shock Wave, you fire an Ember!" he commanded, throwing a hand out.

"Char!" Soul grunted, flinging the Ember just as Shinx loosed her move. Fire and electricity met and exploded, sending small ripples flying through the waist-high grass.

"That's the way, bud! Now use Ember again!" Grey roared. Soul charged another fireball and sent it crashing straight into Shinx's face. The young cub did a backwards somersault into the grass but came back out strong with Quick Attack and latched onto Soul's arm with Bite. Grey was finally able to get into the groove of the battle; he took a calming breath and ordered Soul to throw Shinx off his arm.

Flail as Soul did, Shinx only held fast by digging her fangs further into his scales. His arm snapped forward in repeated Scratch attacks and knocked Shinx off. Soul's tail came next, lashing out like a whip and striking Shinx's head hard enough to send her into a daze.

"Ember attack!" shouted the trainer boy and his charmander happily obliged. Another fireball made contact with the Flash Pokémon's body, this one burning her and lighting her body on fire for an instant.

Shinx pushed past her status ailment and began to store electricity. Soul again fired Ember, only to see that it did less damage than it did before. Cursing himself for forgetting the side effect to Charge, Grey switched tactics. Ember's damage was reduced and Soul only had one other projectile attack.

Shinx let out a mini-roar. The rings on her legs glowed black and her claws grew twice their normal size, sheathed in black light. Just as she pounced, aiming to dig her claws into Soul's tiny skull, Grey barked the command for Dragon Rage. Tail flame flaring up and eyes flashing white, Soul gathered all of his raw anger and used it to fuel the attack. He launched it as Shinx came down, one set of claws extended, and it impacted her under the chin. The Dragon Rage exploded, sending yet another, stronger ripple through the grass and Shinx dropped straight of the air.

"Soul, finish her with Ember!" Grey called, thoroughly enthused. Soul jumped, a fireball swirling to life in his open jaws. Instead of launching it, however, Soul dove down and chomped down on Shinx's back. Fire seeped through his teeth while torching Shinx's blue fur charcoal black and summoning a yowl from his opponent.

"Fire Fang; sweet!" Grey pumped his fist into the air. "I knew Dragon Rage and physical hits would work, but a new move is just icing on the cake. Unbelievable, buddy!"

"Bui bui!" Lucy rooted. Soul flashed them a toothy grin that was still slightly on fire.

Shinx immediately stood back up, becoming very lightheaded as she did, but she pushed past it. However, her burn took effect once more as she literally burst into flames.

"Chance," Grey grunted. Pulling a poké ball off his belt, he expanded it while simultaneously flicking it into the air. "Poké ball…!" He snatched it back and tossed it into the air where Soul jumped and batted it at Shinx with his tail.

"Char mander!" _Capture on!_ The ball hit Shinx just as the flames died out; she was converted into energy and sucked into the ball.

"Come on, you little sparkplug," Grey said through gritted teeth. Luxray and Manectric watched the ball shake violently and felt proud that their daughter was fighting so hard; Soul, Lucy, and Grey watched and felt apprehensive for the same reason. One the one hand, catching such a tenacious cub would definitely prove to be a good asset, but if she got out of the ball, then Soul'd have to fight again. Grey didn't want to have to force his partner to do all that over again.

After a minute of anticipation, the poké ball finally stopped moving. Grey let out his tension in the form of a sigh and Soul rushed over to him, jumping onto his shoulder.

"Charmander char chaa!" he shouted victoriously.

"You bet your flaming ass we did, buddy! You rock!"

"Bui bui!" Lucy put in. Luxray suddenly sauntered over to Grey and beckoned him down to her eyelevel. She tried her best to convey her feelings to the boy while Grey did the same to interpret them.

"Ruxsha…" the lioness whispered. "Ren ruxsh!" Grey grinned at her.

"No problem, Luxray. I'll take good care of Strabi in your place," he said in an assuring voice while simultaneously naming his newest capture. Luxray gave a small and reluctant smirk before sending Grey off with a push. Grey gave Luxray one last grin before turning tail and heading back towards Maverick.

"Thanks again, Luxray!" he shouted.

* * *

"Are the preparations complete?"

"Yes sir, Lieutenant Kestrel," the grunt saluted. "All operatives are in position and the tablet has been located, as well as the item. Team Regal won't know what hit them." A sadistic grin swelled into existence upon Kestrel's face, showcasing his oddly pointed teeth.

"Good; good… Excellent work, grunt. You'll receive a nice bonus for all of this," he chuckled. His deep, menacing voice rumbled as he spoke, almost as if he were a growling beast.

"Thank you, sir," the grunt said humbly.

"That will be all for now. Relay a message to all other squads to get some rest for the big day tomorrow. We strike at 1500 hours. That is all," Kestrel ordered. The grunt saluted once more before marching off into the small soldier camp behind him.

Kestrel looked out at the plains from his vantage point on the plateau he was stationed on. They seemed to go on forever and their beauty in the mid-afternoon was breathtaking. As psychotic as Kestrel was - a fact that he freely admitted - even he took the time to stop and enjoy the beauty of the world. That is, before he razed the spirits of its people to the ground and crushed them into submission. But never would he harm a single blade of grass on this landscape; not for all the money in the world.

A fearow and honchkrow flew in from out of the blue, twisting and turning in the air and conjoining their flight paths elegantly before landing next to their master. Kestrel affectionately stroked their pristine and glossy feathers, eliciting soft trills from the both of them.

"Honchkrow, Fearow, tomorrow is a very special day. Daddy needs the two of you on your best behavior, okay? We may even get to fight tomorrow," Kestrel cooed. Honchkrow nuzzled against Kestrel's clean-shaven face while Fearow stretched out a wing preened his feathers. Excitement at the prospect of battle surged throughout Kestrel and increased his sadism and drive twofold. Casting a devilish glance over at Museum Tower in the distance, Kestrel gave a dark series of chuckles.

"Yes… Tomorrow is a very special day indeed. Hahaha…."

* * *

"Thanks again, Aunt Joy," Grey said with a smile. He collected the four poké balls off the tray and headed out the back exit of the Centre to catch up with his friends after a long day. The sun hung high in the sky and Jameson was just telling everybody about the Mélange Town Gym Leader, Kory. Grey walked outside into the two acre patch of greenery the Pokémon Centre owned, released three of his pokémon, and took his seat in the circle next to Juniper. Maverick coiled himself around the group, acting as a protective barrier while Soul and Lucy settled next to the rock snake's head. Grey wanted to keep Strabi a secret for now.

"Kory had a breloom with him that was crazy powerful," Jameson finished. "I don't know how I'm going to do it, but I'm sure that we can take him, right guys?"

"Scytha!"

"Duuuuskuuuull…"

"Sounds like you had a pretty eventful day, James," Rachel said. "As for me, going to the Museum Tower was a day well spent."

"What'd I tell ya?" Danny smiled proudly. "I knew you'd like it there."

"I did and I learned a lot about ancient civilizations and how the world was before now. Did you know Kanto used to be mostly underwater?" Rachel asked them with a vaguely smug look that suggested she knew more than the teenagers she traveled with.

"Of course we did; that's, like, fourth grade," Grey snorted.

"He _is_ right," Juniper giggled. "Why do you think omanyte and kabuto fossils are so abundant there?" Rachel visibly reddend in embarrassment and fixed Grey with an annoyed look. Her little brother only looked back innocently, happy to have derailed her.

"Anyway, today was fun for me, too. I found a new research topic and I even caught a new pokémon," Juniper continued.

"Ret ret," Rosewood piped up with a nod.

"Really?" James asked, intrigued. "What'd you switch to?"

"Regional affects on pokémon. Basically, while I go around with you guys, I compare how the Silver Ring's varying climates affect the pokémon introduced to them by the League. It's really fascinating," the redhead explained.

"Gro grovyle?" _Like us, you mean?_ asked Sylva.

"Of course like you," Grey answered. "I mean, look; you're way greener than a normal grovyle." Sylva wasn't sure whether or not to take that as a compliment.

"So, what'd you do today, kid?" Danny asked Grey.

"First off," Grey began heatedly, "don't call me 'kid'."

"Okay, okay," Danny said warily.

"Second." Grey took a deep breath to calm himself before going on. "I caught a new pokémon like I said I would. I had to go up against a pissed off luxray and her manectric husband to catch her, but I did it," he declared with a proud grin.

"What is it with you and pissing off pokémon?" Rachel snickered at him.

"Roooohohoho…" Maverick chuckled.

"Don't ask me. It just happens," Grey mumbled defensively.

"So what you're saying is that you're a trouble magnet," Jameson smirked.

"Listen, Rhodes - "

"Don't even think of starting up again, you two," Juniper warned as Grey lifted out of his seat. She looked at the both of them with threatening steel eyes, daring one of them to make the first move. Grey cooled off and sat back down, not wanting to incur her wrath. Jameson even dialed down his smart mouth.

"Thank you," Juniper giggled as she returned to her bubbly demeanor. As hard as the boys tried, they couldn't get how the normally docile Juniper could become so threatening. In a way, it was kind of attractive but, at the same time, it was scary.

"Oh, right!" Rachel exclaimed. "James and Grey, what did you guys catch today?" Near identical smiles broke out across the boy's faces.

"On three?" Grey suggested.

"Fine with me," James replied.

"Me too; me too!" June cried eagerly. The three of them produced their newest pokeballs in their own signature ways before calling them out in unison.

"Luna, come on!"

"Strabi, say hello!"

"Rhea, it's time to meet everyone!"

A trio of silver lights erupted from the poké balls, morphing into the shapes of the zangoose, nidoran, and shinx caught earlier that day. Luna immediately crossed her arms in an accurate mimicry of a gang leader, Strabi stretched out and yawned like a housecat, and Rhea merely blinked docilely.

"Zang!"

"Shiyah…"

"Nida nida!" Danny whistled, impressed with the new pokémon.

"Looks like you guys made some pretty cool new captures if I do say so myself," he remarked.

"Yeah, but it looks like our bet's a tie, Grey," James pointed out. "We both caught new pokémon by two o'clock." Grey gave an indifferent shrug.

"Eh, as long as I make a new friend, it's all the same to me," he said as he petted Strabi, much to the cub's liking.

"Wasn't it you who was so fired up about it in the first place?" Rachel wondered under her breath.

The new pokémon walked over to their new teammates to socialize. Luna gave a confident fanged grin while Rhea shyly approached the bigger creatures. Strabi, in a perfect imitation of her mother, sauntered over regally.

_Don't be scared, little one, _Sylva said soothingly to the little nidoran. _My name is Sylva and it's nice to meet one of June's new captures._

_I'm Rosewood. As long as you don't mess up my fur, I'm sure we can get along just fine. Ooh, you're so cute!_ the furret squealed as she lightly pinched Rhea's cheek.

_It's very nice to meet the both of you as well,_ Rhea spoke politely, _though I really have no clue what's going on… Please, tell me why the orange one is so loud?_

_That's just Soul being Soul,_ Sylva said dismissively. _Trust me, you get used to it pretty fast._

_Yo! _Luna grunted loudly, placing Soul into a headlock and grating her knuckles onto his head._ My name's Luna now, I guess, and you guys are the perfect new recruits into my gang._

_Gang? _Soul wondered while he attempted to pry his head free. _I think you've got it backwards; you're part of James's team now._

_Yeah, yeah, I know, but that's just a cover, see? I let myself be caught by this trainer so he can make me and my gang stronger so we can take over and be the most powerful pokémon on the island! Whaddaya say, runts? Feel like joining up?_

_As I recall, I kicked your furry ass,_ Sniper pointed out boisterously.

_In your dreams, psycho,_ Lucy snorted derisively. _You've got to have a few screws loose if you think we're up to that. I'll take my chances with the humans._

_I'd like to say I wanna join,_ Maverick said lazily,_ but then I'd be lying. I don't wanna be a liar._

_How about you, big blue bug?_ Luna asked eagerly. _Do you want fame? Glory? Your own kingdom?_

_Uh… no,_ Heracross answered uneasily._ I'm good where I am now, thank you._

_Oh come on, don't be that way!_

_He said no, now will you please stop?_ Vulpix deadpanned. _You're way too loud._

_I wanna join a gang; I wanna join a gang!_ Mudkip sang_. The world shall know the name 'Kip!_

_That's the spirit, little blue thing!_ Luna cheered.

_Is she always like this? _Lucy asked Sniper. The mantis shrugged and said,

_As far as we know. She's a damn good fighter, though._

_Damn good fighter but damn crazy as well,_ Shishi snickered. _Love to see how long she lasts without picking a fight with the charmander._

_Like hell I'm joining your gang. I'm stickin' with my buddy Grey, ya warped furball!_ Soul said vehemently. Luna's crazed grin overtook her features once more as she switched into mania mode.

_So, ya wanna fight, do ya? Well, bring it on, firebug!_ she roared, unsheathing her claws and pointing them at Soul's neck. Soul brandished his as well, setting them ablaze with the metallic sheen of Metal Claw.

_Prepare to be torched, ya loon!_

_Called it!_ Shishi shouted before he erupted into laughter.

_Well, I can tell this is going to get interesting,_ Strabi noted with an interested smile. _There's never a dull moment with you guys, is there? I like that._

_You think this is fun, wait til your first Gym Battle, kid, _Maverick rumbled.

_Battle?_ Strabi's eyes narrowed in excited expectation. _If Grey shows me the same kinds of fights he did today, then I might just stick around._

_Ow! Hey, get off of me!_ Soul shouted after Luna tackled him to the ground. He latched onto her with Fire Fang and threw her into Heracross. The annoyed beetle tried shaking her off but she hung fast to his horn.

_Let go o' my horn, you demon! Megahorn!_

_Woohoo! Attica! For the horde! _Luna cheered as she was repeatedly flung into the air.

_This chick is crazy! _the other pokémon chorused.

* * *

**Sweet mother, that took me for-freakin'-ever but it's here now. I wanted to give Grey another addition to his team since Lucy plans on leaving the team and another one of his pokémon is going to leave, too, but I won't say who. It's not Soul, though, so you can rest easy. And James and June were WAAAY overdue for a capture. Though I think I may have doomed James by giving him a psychotic zangoose with split personality disorder.**

**Ah, Grey so does have a talent for inadvertently ticking off other pokémon, doesn't he? I really hate doing this to him but it makes for good reading and he lives most of the time, so I'll roll with it.**

**Just so you guys know, Grey and James's next two captures will come fairly quickly. After checking out my story outline, I've found that their captures happen relatively quickly in relation to one another, so expect a lot of that.**

**Also, that note that I put in the beginning of this chapter's Author's Notes? Ignore it. Have the next few events done as well as having this entire arc more or less mapped out.**

**Does anybody know what's up with FF's document editor? It won't let you use the question mark/exclamation point combo anymore, the double dashes are turned to singles, and whole bunch of other stuff's been messed up. It's really messing with my writing style.**

**That's all for now. I'm really sleepy so I'll go get some rest but you know the drill: Read and Review! =D**

**CHAPTER PREVIEW**

**James: **It's finally here; my next Gym Battle. Kory's a tough opponent from what I've seen, so there's no guarantee I'll win. Better be prepared…

**Grey:** Relax, dude. I've seen you battle and you'll be fine. Plus, with that new psycho zangoose of yours, I think you stand a pretty good chance.

**James: **Grey, are you actually complimenting me?

**Grey:** Don't get used to it; I'm just giving credit where credit is due. Besides, watching you fight Kory gives me an advantage.

**James: **How's that?

**Grey:** I get to scope out his pokémon beforehand and strategize. That's a huge upper hand if I do say so myself.

**Juniper: **Wow, we actually managed to get through a chapter preview without the two of you fighting. This is great!

**Rachel: **Yep, but we forgot one thing in this one, guys.

**James:** The antagonists?

**Grey:** Oh, right; how could we forget about them? Team Simurgh comes around to ruin things for us right when they start getting good. That Kestrel guy and his bird pokémon scare the hell out of me. Especially the dude's crazy smile…

**Rachel:** Not too different from one of your grins.

**James: **Ouch; got him here, haha.

**Rachel: **Why isn't he retaliating, though?

**Juniper: **Can't say, but from the blush on the bridge of his nose and the vacant stare, I think he's fallen in love…

**James and Rachel:** WHAT?

**Girls and James: **Next time on _Challenger!_: Jameson's Hidden Skill! VS Leader Kory I!

**Grey: **She's so cute…

**Others: **WAKE UP, GREY!


	12. VS Leader Kory I

**Not much to say so I'll just make it short. I do not own Pokémon now shut up, stop telling people I do, and go make me a pie, Travis! Oh, wait, you're not Travis… Awkward…**

* * *

**Chapter 12:** Jameson's Hidden Skills. VS Leader Kory I

Staraptor caught an updraft and flapped himself higher into the air upon his trainer's orders. Sonia gave the bird of prey an appreciative pat on his head and looked down to see Mélange Town quickly approaching over the horizon. She replayed the details of her mission in her head: get to the tower, get the tablet. Get in; get out. It was as simple as that.

"Somehow I think a simple mission like that will be too boring for me," Sonia mused with a devious smirk. "I need to find a way to _spice it up_ a little, don't I, Staraptor?"

"Mukku," the predatory bird trilled. Truthfully, he wasn't all that interested in his trainer's antics. But, then again, that's how he always was until Sonia did something that really wowed him.

"The only question is - whoo!" she cried when Staraptor did a barrel roll before decreasing his altitude. "Thanks for the interruption," she laughed. "But, seriously, what can I do to keep entertained today?"

"Ku-kuhawk?"_ How 'bout that?_ Staraptor nodded his head towards the ground where a group of trainers were gathered. One of the boys had a charmander stood in front of him battling a shinx while a buizel watched. Another boy stood training his scyther, duskull, and an overactive zangoose. Two girls sat on the sidelines using an onix as a bench. A smirk bloomed across Sonia's face.

"Yeah," she said with a devious smile. "That'll work just fine for me."

Back on the ground, Jameson watched Staraptor fly overhead uninterestedly. His mind was elsewhere, calculating and strategizing. Emily had told him when he left Knight City that Kory was a Gym Leader that trained Fighting-type pokémon. With Sniper and Shishi, James had a clear advantage against Fighting-types. Luna, however, was a different story.

She was a Normal-type and thus, was notoriously weak to Fighting-types. It didn't really help that the Zangoose's personality was so volatile and variable, either; it just made her harder to control. He let out a drawn-out sigh, his fist against his forehead in exasperation.

"Harder than I thought it'd be," he said to the air. "Well, I guess we just have to work on it a bit more, huh, guys?"

"Zan zang," Luna nodded enthusiastically.

"Scy-ytha," Sniper sighed, sympathizing with James. _You think training her's bad? Try being her sparring partner,_ he whined.

_Suck it up, youngling,_ Shishi muttered. _Just sit back, relax and watch the coal-headed one fail._

_You aren't even that old,_ Sniper muttered back.

Soul jumped over Strabi's Spark attack, landed, and swiped at her unguarded back with Metal Claw. Strabi struck back and knocked Soul's hand back with Iron Tail before whipping around and swiping with claws sheathed in night. Her Night Slash just missed Soul when he leapt backwards, sliding as he landed.

"Strabi, Shock Wave. Soul, Ember attack." Grey ordered without the usual fervor. Grey didn't want a repeat of his first Gym Battle and he knew that Gym Leaders weren't to be taken lightly. If his devastating defeat at Emily's hands didn't tell him that then nothing would. He wanted to keep himself calm during the battle so he didn't make any stupid mistakes and he knew that the adrenaline rush that made him do that. Any mistake on his part would end up in a loss and serious injury for his pokémon and that, in his opinion, was not fair to them.

Strabi's rings glowed violently and she launched the blue electrical wave at Soul. The sure-hit attack screamed forward before being stopped halfway through be Soul's fireball. The resulting explosion shook the air violently and generated a huge cloud of smoke.

"It's like he just keeps getting better and better," June said in amazement. "Same with James, too. Watching them never gets boring."

"Grovyle," Sylva concurred with a nod. From her usual spot around Juniper's shoulders, Rosewood gave her own nod. Rhea only watched in silent content from June's arms.

"Speak for yourself," Rachel grumbled as she watched Grey. Her annoyance with the whole Pokémon Training thing was slowly growing day by day. "It's getting pretty annoying watching him break the rules. Right, Vulpix?"

"Vul vulpix," Vulpix concurred.

"It wouldn't hurt you to train Heracross and Mudkip, you know," June admonished. "You said you'd start pulling your weight in the battle department but you've only caught Heracross so far." Rachel's face took on a miffed appearance and June gave her a knowing smirk.

"Aha. Speechless, aren't you?" she said smugly.

"Okay, fine. I admit you're right. After Grey's battle, I'll ask him to train," Rachel conceded.

"Mud mudkip!" the little one cheered.

"I know, I know," Rachel laughed, immediately brightening up at Mudkip's cheeriness.

"Soul, shoot Ember faster and Strabi, Iron Tail it down," Grey commanded. "Just hope this new strategy works." Soul charged up and launched another Ember attack while Strabi prepared to counter it. With a mini-roar, she made her tail take on the same metallic sheen as Metal Claw and leapt up to meet the fireball. Strabi swung her tail around but lost concentration and Iron Tail stopped working, letting Ember fully impact.

"Shi-nyaah," she growled irritably as she shook herself out. "Nyarah nya…"

"Char char?" Soul asked between tired breaths. _Break time?_

"Sure, guys," Grey sighed. He himself sat cross-legged on the ground and his pokémon, bar Maverick, approached him. Grey stoked his shinx's fur apologetically. "Sorry about that, Strabi; looks like we need more work on that Iron Tail of yours."

"Nyah-shi," the cub agreed with a curt nod. She wasn't mad at Grey at all; rather her pride had been bruised by not having Iron Tail down yet.

"And Soul," Grey muttered in thought. The charmander looked back at him confusedly, wondering if he were in trouble or if he didn't try hard enough.

"No, no. Nothing like that," Grey assured after he picked up Soul's feelings. "I was just thinking. It's awesome that you learned Fire Fang but we need new moves to use against a Fighting-type Gym Leader. Can you learn any flying moves?" Soul shrugged.

"Check the Pokédex," June suggested as she and James approached. "It's bound to have something on what a charmander can learn."

"Right," Grey nodded. Turning to Jameson, he asked, "How come you aren't training? Didn't you plan to take on Kory today?"

Jameson nodded. "Of course. We've been training nonstop for two days, Grey. You weren't around is all. Though, Luna's posing a bit of a problem." He turned to his Zangoose and sighed heavily while she curiously scratched in the dirt with her claws before fixing them with a confused look. A split second later, she went into mania mode and started tearing up that same spot.

"I see what you mean by that," Grey said with some fear in his voice. "How do you know when she's -"

"Going to do that?" Jameson finished. "That's just it: I don't. I thought maybe I could use that to my advantage but she's too much of a variable for me to tell what she'll do next."

"Why don't you just go with the flow?" Grey suggested.

"Char," Soul agreed with a nod.

"You mean just let her do what she wants?" June asked. She tilted her head naively. "I thought that was the opposite of what a trainer does in battle."

"It is," James agreed. "You want me to let my psychotic zangoose run wild? Can you imagine the damage?" Grey heaved an annoyed sigh at James for not understanding.

"I mean you're too uptight," he said bluntly. Jameson was taken aback and Juniper giggled but Grey kept going with his explanation. "If you can't figure out when Luna will shift, then just go with it. Adapt your battle style to her current…personality," he finished uncertainly. "You know what I mean."

"I…you…I am not uptight!" James shouted indignantly while Rosewood made no attempts to hide her laughter. The look on his face was too good to ignore and even Sylva was chuckling.

"Yeah, dude, you are," Grey snickered at his stuttering. "I'll admit you've got skill but you're too rigid. You follow the same battle routine over and over again and, to be honest, it's kind of stale. You need to keep…. What's the word I'm looking for?"

"Charman?"

"Bui bui?" Lucy suggested.

"No, not change…" Grey said.

"Shi-nya?" Strabi put it. Grey snapped his fingers and patted Strabi's head.

"Thank you, that's the word! Evolve; you need to evolve with your pokémon. Otherwise you're gonna get left behind," Grey said.

"It's odd to hear words of wisdom come from you, Grey," June said with a giggle. "But I guess we all have our moments."

"Thanks, June," Grey smiled. It took him about a second to realize the dual meaning behind that sentence. "Wait a second; hey!"

"Gotcha!" the redhead laughed as Rosewood joined in in an instant. Jameson huffed and turned his back to Grey.

"Why should I fix what's not broken?" he shot back.

"It ain't broken yet, but it will be if you don't start adapting," Grey sang.

"What do you know?" James asked with a hint of petulance. "You've only been training for a little over a month."

"I know, but I watch the Pokémon League channel a lot and Green from Kanto says that a trainer needs to grow with his pokémon and adapt. Otherwise, you're outta the game faster than you can say 'Muk'," Grey answered. "Just trying to help, dude." Jameson heaved a sigh of defeat.

"Okay, maybe you're right," he admitted. "Maybe I'll try it out. Thanks for the help, Grey." Grey grinned.

"Anytime. Now, work your magic, Dexter," he said, producing his Pokédex. He had it scan Soul and touched the icon labeled 'MOVES' with the stylus.

**Known moves: Scratch, Growl, Smokescreen, Ember, Dragon Rage, Metal Claw, Fire Fang,** Dexter reeled off.

"No, no, no," Grey said with a shake of his head, "I already know what Soul knows now. I need to know what kinds he can learn."

"Give it here," June said. She put a frowning Rhea down and took the Pokédex from Grey. Touching a few icons here and there, June was able to bring up an entirely new screen. She handed it back to Grey and he gave it a curious look, James looking over his shoulder.

The top screen showed a picture of Soul in the top right corner with a pentagonal grid taking up the rest of it. A small number was placed at the bottom of Soul's picture. The bottom screen showed a list of moves that Soul's species could learn color-coded by type.

"June, this is sick," Grey grinned. "How'd you get it to do that?"

"I'll teach you later. Just read; I think you'll find something you like in there," June said slyly. Sylva felt a slight pang of pride in her trainer. Shrugging, Grey started to cycle through the moves.

"Check it out. He can learn Shadow Claw," James pointed out.

"Yeah, but we're not facing a Psychic-type Leader," Grey reminded him. "I'm looking for any Flying-type moves."

"Rock Slide's not very effective against Fighting-types. Fire Blast, Double Team… What about Frustration?" James suggested. Grey and Soul scoffed in obnoxious unison.

"Soul and I are best friends! Not only would that move be an insult to us, it wouldn't even do much damage!" Grey said with a mix of pride and incredulity. "Next move. Overheat, Swords Dance, Swagger; none of these moves are useful in the lea - Hello, what've we get here?"

"Hm?" James looked at the move in question and smirked, grasping Grey's idea in an instant. "Oh, that's good."

"Aerial Ace!" Grey punched the air in victory. "It never misses and it's great against Fighting-types! June, you're a genius!"

"Well, you know." June blushed but accepted the praise nonetheless.

"Hey, look, there's another move here. 'Will-O-Wisp. Type: Fire. An attack in which the user generates intensely hot flames to induce a guaranteed burn the enemy. Mostly known by Ghost and Fire-types.'," Grey read off. "Burns bring down the enemy's attack power… Hey, doesn't your duskull know Will-O-Wisp?" Jameson nodded affirmatively.

"You can't borrow him, though. My Gym Battle's in a few hours and I want to get more training in," James said.

"Well, Vulpix knows it and Heracross knows Aerial Ace. This is going to be a cinch," Grey said with a grin. Thanks again, June." He turned around and started running towards his sister.

"Hey, Rae! Can I ask you a favor?" His pokémon hurriedly followed after him.

"He never sits still," James noted with disdain. "He's gonna hurt himself one day."

"Yeah, but his enthusiasm is in the right place. I cannot wait to see his Gym Battle," June said excitedly.

* * *

"Alpha Team to Gold Team; are you in position?" Kestrel muttered discreetly into the mic in his lapel. Today was the day of the operation and he was dressed incognito. A simple suit and green tie was what he wore today as he commanded the troops. He himself was inside Museum Tower's forth floor fossil exhibit pretending to admire a rampardos skeleton while his two grunt teams posed as a tour group and security detail on the tenth and second floors. Another team was disabling the security cameras.

Their plan was simple. In classic pincer formation, they would incapacitate any and all pedestrians with either force or knockout gas, making their way to the Legends and Myth's exhibit on the sixth floor. There, they would get what they came for and possibly destroy the stone tablet Team Regal had set their sights on. That part was still up in the air.

"This is Sparrow of Gold Team, sir," a woman's voice replied. "We are in position and have successfully disguised ourselves as security guards. Awaiting further orders."

"Alpha Team here. Tour is about to start in T-minus one hour."

"Good, good," Kestrel muttered devilishly. "And how are the cameras coming?"

"Sigma Team leader Canard in surveillance room," the bass-voiced man answered. "Just need to wait for the rest of my team to disable the cameras on all floors and we'll be good to go. Might take a while, though. These people take their security seriously and there's encryptions on all the controls. Work faster, men!"

"Good work, everyone. We start on my signal," Kestrel commanded.

"Sir!" came the synchronized grunts from all three of his underlings.

"Sir?" came a voice from behind him. Needless to say, Kestrel was visibly suspicious. He didn't remember taking anybody with him personally. His only company were the poké balls of Fearow and Honchkrow and a flask of Scotch in his coat pocket.

"Yes?" he asked, turning around to face a blond-headed young man in overalls and an orange shirt. "Who might you be?" The young man smiled amiably.

"My name's Danny, sir. I'm a student from Knight City and the museum let me sell some of my homemade honey here to pay for tuition." Danny took a jar of the golden substance out of his hand basket and offered it to Kestrel. "Would you like to buy some? It's two for four dollars."

On the outside, Kestrel gave the boy a light clap on the shoulder and a friendly grin. On the inside, that grin belonged to a demon and the light clap became a lethal death grip.

"Of course, my boy. Give me eight jars. My honchkrow can't get enough of the stuff."

"Thank you, sir!" Danny said gratefully. "Here, let's get you a bag from the gift shop to carry this in."

While Kestrel really did love his honchkrow to death, he himself would be lying if he said he didn't like to mix honey into his alcohol once in a while. Peculiar as it may be, it dulled bitterness of his Scotch and that was fine by him.

* * *

That afternoon, James and company rounded the corner to see the Mélange Town Gym looming before them. It was a large ring-shaped building with a rounded roof upon which giant letters spelled "GYM" in vibrant orange. Three trees grew in the center of the courtyard and out in front, there was a signpost dictating the hours the Gym Leader would be in. Seeing as it was only two in the afternoon, Jameson was actually early according to it.

The boy in blue let out a tense breath and steeled himself for what was to come. His pokémon were safely in their balls, they had trained, and James was confident. Dashing any further doubts in his mind, he gave a quick nod and led the others through the door. Thankful to be spared of the burning plains sun, Jameson relaxed even more in the presence of air conditioning.

"Thank Arceus," Rachel sighed in content. Vulpix, however, scoffed at the cool air and wished for the heat to return, as did Soul and Grey.

"Hello there," the brown-haired receptionist greeted. "Are you here for a martial arts class or a Gym Battle?" she asked, pointing to the respective doors on either side of her booth.

"Gym Battle," James answered. The receptionist looked relieved and said,

"Thank goodness. I thought you were here for a class cuz the last one ended twenty minutes ago. I'll show you to the battlefield." The group followed behind her, leading them through the door on the left. They noticed that the room was a large and spacious martial arts studio fitted with padded floors and walls. Barbells and other weight lifting equipment were messily strewn across the floor and there were several dents in the padding.

"Looks like Grey's room back home except for the padding," Rachel noted.

"Actually, aside from the barbells and less padding, this is exactly how I pictured his room," Jameson joked.

"Hey!" Grey shouted.

"Kory is a very messy person. He never cleans up after his classes and just leaves it for me to do…" the receptionist muttered sourly.

"You his big sister?" Rachel asked.

"You guessed it." The two girls immediately felt sympathy for one another. She led them out of the studio and into the courtyard. It was about a fourth of the size of the Pokémon Centre's with a standard battlefield in the center of it. Three trees were placed on three sides of the field and the sun shone down brightly, giving the whole area a calming atmosphere. Unlike Emily's indoor battlefield, there were no stands, only one set of bleachers on either side of the battlefield. On the courtyard wall opposite the Gym Leader's side of the battlefield was a giant Combat Badge: a red diamond pierced by twin swords.

In the center of the battlefield was a boy around James and Grey's ages with mid-length brown hair. He wore a green sleeveless hoodie and gray sweatpants and was doing stretches with a monferno copying his movements. Around the boy's forearms and fists were training bandages.

"Outdoor battlefield," Grey noted. "Why?"

"Kory doesn't like being inside when he fights on account of him breaking a lot of stuff. Plus, the fresh air does him good. Kory, you've got a battle!" his sister called to him. Kory decided to show off a little and do a series of back flips onto his side of the battlefield. Monferno did the same, landing affectionately on his shoulders. "Showoff…"

"So, you wanna try for the Combat Badge, do yah?" Kory asked, his voice energetic if not for a slight drawl. "Fine by me, mate. Yer friends're gonna have to sit on the sideline bleachers, though." He jabbed a thumb in their direction for emphasis.

"Good luck, Jimmy," Rachel said encouragingly.

"Kick him into next week," Grey said with a grin and a thumbs up that were imitated by Soul.

"Break a leg out there," June piped up. "But not literally. I mean, it would really be bad if you or your pokémon broke a leg and -" Rosewood slapped her paw to her forehead and quickly covered Juniper's mouth before she said something embarrassing.

"I get it, June," James interjected with a laugh. She followed the Thomas siblings and took a seat on the topmost bleacher with Rachel and Vulpix sitting one under her. Grey and Soul took courtside seats, not wanting to miss any of the action. He let out Strabi and Lucy to let them watch and hopefully learn a new strategy or two.

"Fiona, mind refereeing for us?" Fiona took her place at the referee's stand and flattened out her skirt. She picked up the red and green flags off the ground and cleared her throat before beginning.

"This is an official Pokémon League Gym Battle between…" she paused, looking at Jameson to introduce himself.

"Jameson of Fuschia City," he answered.

"Jameson of Fuschia City," Fiona continued, "and Gym Leader Kory of Mélange Town. The rules are as follows as stated by the Gym Leader."

"Okay, mate. Rules are as simple as this," Kory picked up where his sister left off. He stretched his legs a bit before going on. "However many pokémon you decide to use, I use one more than that. My Gym tests how strong you and your pokémon's fighting spirit is. Comprehend?"

"Got it. I'll be using three pokémon so you'll use four. That right?" Jameson asked as he placed a hand over one of his poké balls. Kory did a back flip and grinned.

"Exactly right."

"Right off the bat, the Gym Leader has the upper hand," Grey muttered. "So I guess we'll be facing the same odds as poor ol' Jimmy." Soul nodded silently.

"Pay close attention so you can learn the fruits of one's labor, young Rachel," June instructed with mock wisdom in her voice.

"Okay, okay," Rachel said uninterestedly. "And I'm older than you."

"Also," Fiona continued, "both sides are allowed substitutions at their leisure, but neither trainer is allowed to attack during a substitution. Failure to follow these rules results in immediate disqualification. Each trainer is allowed _one_ time-out."

The calm atmosphere that once dominated the air of the Gym was shattered the exact moment Kory recalled Monferno took a fighting stance. James tightened his own stance and steeled his eyes. Up in the bleachers, his friends waited with bated breath for the battle to start, Grey more so than any of them. He'd never witnessed James's battling style when he fought seriously and, if it was better than the way he fought regularly, then Grey would officially declare James a more-than-worthy rival.

"Trainers, choose your first pokémon," Fiona commanded.

"Right then," Kory grinned, taking out a poké ball from the pocket of his hoodie and hurling it into the field with great force. "I choose Breloom!"

The ball opened and silver light rained down, morphing into Kory's first round pick. Stood before all present was a bipedal dinosaur-like creature with a green mushroom cap for a helmet. The lower half of its body was a mossy green color and it had a long beige tail topped with four green seed pods. Its upper half was the same color as its tail and it had red hooves for arms and feet.

"Breloom!" it called out as it pawed the ground expectantly.

"Cool," Grey muttered as he scanned the creature.

**Breloom, the Mushroom Pokémon. The spheres at the ends of its tail are actually hardened seed pods that it uses as a bludgeoning weapon in battle. Eating them is highly inadvisable, as they are disgusting and have varied unpleasant side-effects. Breloom's legs are very developed and allow for great speed and jumping ability. Breloom also possess the ability to scatter spores with effects ranging from poisoning to sleep-inducing and it's fighting technique consists of close range combat with springy footwork. It can also attack from a limited range with its elastic arms.**

"_Grass and Fighting types together,"_ Jameson mulled. _"Sniper would be the obvious choice, but I'll save him for later. Luna'd be good, too, but her Water Pulse is my secret weapon against that Monferno of his. So, there's only one other choice…"_ Pulling out his poké ball, Jameson lightly tossed it into the ring with a flick of his wrist.

"Shishi, it's all you," he called. The Requiem Pokémon appeared in a flash of light, lazily bobbing back and forth in the air. Kory seemed unfazed.

_A giant mushroom is my opponent? _he asked with a bored look. _Jameson, you insult me._

"Breloom vs. Duskull," Fiona announced. "Let the battle begin!" She rose both flags into the air and Kory made the first move.

"Return, Breloom," he commanded. His confused pokémon was recalled with a flash of red. "A Ghost-type. People think I don't come prepared for that event, but I do," he said with a knowing look.

"Crap. You saw right through me," Jameson smirked. Kory said nothing and smirked himself as he pulled out the next poké ball.

"Let's go, Tyrogue!" he shouted. A small humanoid pokémon resembling a small child with three ridges on its head appeared in Breloom's place.

"Row!" it grunted determinedly.

"Foresight!" Kory commanded. Jameson grit his teeth in annoyance as Tyrogue's eyes glowed red and he stared at Shishi. For a moment, nothing happened. Then Shishi started to blink in astonishment as he felt his body become solid. Kory smirked and recalled Tyrogue, thanking it for a job well done before switching to his next pokémon.

"Mankey, I choose you!" He lobbed the ball into the ring with an overhead toss and a mankey morphed from the mass of silver light.

"Man mankey!" it screeched wildly, thumping the ground with its lanky arms.

"Mankey vs. Duskull. Begin!"

"Now the real fight starts," Kory said. "Mankey, Karate Chop!" Mankey screeched again and pushed off the ground, rocketing towards Shishi with his hand poised to chop the Ghost-type's mask in half. Shishi barely sidestepped the move and Mankey, true to its species stereotype, became enraged and came back around with another Karate Chop, hitting Shishi in the crossbones pattern on his back.

"Okay, that did too much damage to be good," Jameson pointed out. "Shishi stand your ground!" The duskull angrily whipped around to face Mankey and held his arms outward defensively.

"Mankey, Focus Energy then Fury Swipes!" Kory shouted as he hopped in place.

"Maaaaaan…" Mankey growled. His body took on a thin sheen of white energy that slowly condensed into the center of its body. His eyes snapping open in readiness, Mankey jumped up again to meet Shishi, flailing his arms wildly with Fury Swipes.

"Now, Shishi! Shadow Sneak!" In the space of a half-second, Shishi sunk into Mankey's shadow when he came overhead. The confused pig-monkey landed and looked around, enraged and cursing the duskull as a coward for seemingly running away.

_Who's running?_ Shishi asked sadistically. His solitary red eye opened in Mankey's shadow and struck fear into the Fighting-type's heart.

"Shishi, Will-O-Wisp," Jameson ordered with a cool smirk. Spectral blue flames exploded into existence from under Mankey and enveloped him in their searing embrace. Mankey immediately caught fire and screamed in agony as he was burned, allowing Shishi a free shot to finish his Shadow Sneak. He landed an uppercut on Mankey, sending him into the air and finished his opponent with Shadow Ball on Jameson's swift command. Mankey was unconscious, crackling with residual black energy, and still on fire when he hit the ground.

Needless to say, all three of Jameson's friends and their pokémon were in total awe. The battle was over and had been executed almost expertly by Jameson and his duskull. Grey and Juniper had never seen a duskull move that fast and chalked it up to the speed of Shadow Sneak. The use of Will-O-Wisp in such a way coupled with Shishi's deft use of Shadow Ball was worthy of high note. It was as if both trainer and pokémon knew what the other was thinking. The thought sparked envy in Grey; if it were true, then what did it say of his and Soul's bond?

"No…no way," Grey breathed. "He knocked that thing out in no time flat. And with a duskull. And with a disadvantage right off the bat… That was amazing…"

"I'm speechless," June conceded. "I'm actually speechless…"

"Whoa…" was all Rachel could say, mouth agape.

"Is this what James gets like when he's serious? Am I really that far behind him…?" Grey began to doubt his own skills and Soul sensed this. He placed a hand on his trainer's in an attempt at comfort.

"Charmander," he said resolutely.

"You're right Soul," Grey said, some tension leaving him. "We'll just have to train even harder."

"Mankey is unable to battle," Fiona declared, herself highly impressed. She raised the green flag in Jameson's direction and said, "Duskull is the winner." Shishi gave his signature laugh and floated over to Jameson for a high-five.

"Gotta hand it to you, trainer," said Kory as he recalled Mankey, "I was not expecting that. Granted, Mankey _is_ my weakest pokémon but I hardly ever see anybody take him out that quickly."

"Whether he was your weakest or not, I knew that I'd have to get serious and quickly take out one of your pokémon if I wanted to level the playing field," Jameson explained, his arms crossed and his face set into a confident smile. "Shishi here was the only man for the job. Nice work, buddy," he praised the ghost.

"Skull-dusk," the ghost grunted in appreciation.

"Huh," Kory grunted. He took out his next poké ball and said, "Well, then I'll just have to get serious now, won't I? Breloom, you're back out!" Another flash of silver light and Breloom was back on the field and pawing it eagerly.

"Shishi, take a rest." Jameson called back his duskull and took out his next one, staring at the pokémon inside. "This should be a cinch for us, partner. Sniper, game set!"

Jameson threw the ball with a backhand motion, calling out his first pokémon. Sniper was not in the mood to play, it seemed. His eyes were devoid of any childishness and his arms were crossed in their usual battle position. He flared his wings threateningly at Breloom and let out a low hiss. The mushroom pokémon gave his opponent a cheeky smirk and beckoned him forward.

"This should be good," Grey said expectantly.

"Breloom vs. Scyther!" Fiona declared, raising her flags. She brought them back down with a forceful cry of, "Begin!"

"Full force, Breloom; Stone Edge!" Kory screamed and threw a powerful left jab. Breloom reared its head back and three energy rings appeared around him that quickly solidified into jagged gray stones. He threw his arms forward and the stones followed, bulleting at Sniper.

"Now charge in fast! Mach Punch!" Kory followed up. Breloom shot forward like an arrow and pulled back a fist.

"Sniper. Crush, parry, and Slash," Jameson said coolly. Sniper said nothing and with blinding speed, he used the backs of his blades to rhythmically crush each stone that flew towards him into dust clouds. He finished with a spinning flourish and ignited his blades with Slash attack to parry Breloom's Mach Punch. Both pokémon struggled against one another to try and gain the upper hand but they were evenly matched in terms of power.

"Good boy, Breloom. Now use your tail," Kory said with a smirk. Breloom mimicked that and brought his tail around to slam Sniper in the hip with the spore pods on his tail. Sniper jumped back to avoid further damage only for Breloom to hop above him and drop his tail down on the mantis's head. Sniper tumbled back and tried to fight off the echoing pain.

"Sniper!" James shouted concernedly. "Pull yourself together and use Wing Attack!"

"ThunderPunch!" Kory commanded with gusto. Jameson visibly paled and his heart fell through his stomach. Breloom let out a battle cry and threw an electrified punch that stretched forward and clipped Sniper right as he tilted his head at the last second. The sparks raced by Sniper's face and gave him a hard shock and he shuddered at the thought of a full impact.

On the sidelines, Lucy and Soul winced at the sight and pitied Sniper for going up against that.

_We'll be going up against that soon,_ Lucy pointed out. _I hope I don't go against that._

_You're sticking around for the Gym Battle?_ Soul asked.

_Of course. I can't let you and Grey down._

_I thought you hated Grey,_ Soul said with a sly smirk.

_I guess I warmed up to him a bit,_ Lucy conceded with a shrug.

"Keep dodging and counter with Fury Cutter!" James shouted. Grey watched and mentally pointed out that James was slowly losing his cool. He grit his teeth silently; it wasn't as if he wanted James to lose but, at the same time, he considered this a small dose of karma for his rival. Maybe this'd get him to remedy his battle style and hopefully loosen up.

Sniper shifted left and right and ducked hurriedly under Breloom's assault. His scythe's turned crimson and he repeatedly sliced at Breloom. Breloom stayed true to his fighting style and cockily hopped away from Sniper's blades just as fast as his opponent.

"It's like a duel between a swordsman and a boxer," June compared. "Both of them are nearly matched in speed but in reflexes, Sniper's the clear winner. But why isn't he moving as fast as he did at the start of this?"

"James is losing his cool and Sniper can sense it," Grey explained with uncharacteristic seriousness. Whenever he witnessed a battle, Grey would analyze the tactics of the trainers and the movements of their pokémon, quickly finding out the root of the problem and let his instincts guide him to the solution. Strangely enough, he wasn't able to do this while in a fight.

"If he doesn't pull himself together quick, Sniper will be knocked out and he'll lose his powerhouse," he finished.

"How're you able to do that?" June and Rachel chorused, both impressed with Grey.

"I watch the League Channel a lot," Grey said with a shrug. "Either way, James can't fall apart at the first sign of a type advantage. It's classic Gym Leader strategy."

"Have to get on the offensive," James berated himself. "I haven't gotten one hit in!" His spirits further dropped when Kory ordered a dodge from Breloom and his pokémon responded by bending over backwards and clubbing Sniper with his tail again.

"Come on, kid!" Kory jibed. "Where's the fire from the first round? If that's all you had then this won't be worth the effort." Jameson growled and clenched his fists, nails digging into his palms. He had to work fast or else he'd get hammered into the ground like a nail.

"Sniper!" he barked. Sniper didn't look back from parrying Breloom but James knew he heard. "Let's pull it off! Agility!"

"ThunderPunch, Breloom!" Kory cried with a punch.

"Scy!" Sniper grunted. Time seemed to slow down to a crawl at that moment. Breloom's electrified, stretchy limb soared at Sniper's face and hit air then the bug flickered out of existence. The next second, Sniper was behind Breloom and digging his wing into the fighting mushroom's back like a football player tackles his opponent.

"Aww, crap!" Kory cursed.

"That's the way!" James shouted, victoriously slashing his arms through the air. Grey grinned and relaxed to watch the rest of the battle. "Now Fury Cutter!"

"Scy-yi-yi-yi!" Scyther trilled, invigorated now that he'd finally landed a hit. He cut at Breloom's back again and again and was even fast enough to block with his foot when the fighting mushroom attempted to retaliate with his club-tail.

"Breloom, Headbutt into Stun Spore!" Kory instructed. Breloom found his second wind and whirled around to ram his head into Sniper's thorax. Winded, the Mantis Pokémon could do nothing when Breloom released a paralyzing orange spore cloud. One lungful and Sniper's muscles seized up and locked.

"Sniper; no!" James cried.

"ThunderPunch it," Kory marshaled with a triumphant grin.

"Breee LOOM!" the mushroom creature barked. He drove his sparking fist into Sniper's face and relished the pained grunt that tore out of his throat.

"Damn it," James cursed. "Sniper, X-Scissor!" Sniper fought through his paralysis with a roar and crossed his blades across Breloom's chest as furiously as he could. Breloom was out cold from the brutal cross as soon as he hit the floor. Kory let out a sigh and called Breloom back.

"Breloom is unable to battle; Scyther is the winner!" Fiona announced. James let out a sigh of relief and Sniper walked up to him rather awkwardly from the paralysis. He was numb, tired, and had a huge bruise and several electrical burns from that last attack, but he pushed past it and gave his trainer a small smile.

"Thanks, buddy. You really pulled through for me there," James said gratefully.

"Scythaa…" _Of course._

"Take a well deserved rest." Jameson held up the ball and Sniper gratefully let himself be pulled back in. "Thanks again, Sniper." James put the ball back on his belt and stared Kory down, his confidence flooding back.

"I have two wins, you've got none. Only two left and that badge is mine," he said with a grin. Kory grinned back and took out his next choice.

"Well, let's just see how you do against this little guy," Kory said. "He may be small, but he's got tons o' fighting spirit. Somethin' he shares in common with you."

"Thanks for the compliment, but save it for after the battle," James retorted.

"You got it, kid. Tyrogue, you're back on!" Kory tossed the bal into the air, summoning the baby-level Fighting-type back into the fray. Tyrogue jogged in place and threw a few a few fast punches with an enthusiastic grin on his face.

"Y'know, Tyrogue and the Hitmon family have always confused me…" Grey said.

"Char?" Soul asked with a tilt of his head.

"What about them? They seem pretty normal to me," Rachel shrugged.

"Well, like… They're a male only species, right?" Grey asked. The pokémon watched the conversation curiously.

"Mhm, yeah. They are. What's so weird about that, Grey?" Juniper wondered. Grey put a hand to his face and sighed in annoyance. Were the girls honestly this dense?

"How do more Tyrogue show up?" Grey asked bluntly. Both girls' faces immediately adopted a vibrant shade of red. Soul started to laugh heartily, Grey's female pokémon looked away in embarrassment and Vulpix muttered something about immature humans.

"Well, uh…" June stuttered embarrassedly. "I… Maybe…"

"J-Just drop it, June!" Rachel urged. "Watch the m-match… Grey can look it up later." Grey let our a gale of laughter, clutching his sides out of pure hilarity.

"Prudes!" he barked while wiping a tear from his eye. "Ahh, priceless."

"Alright… This should be good training for you," Jameson muttered to his next choice's poké ball. He flung it into the ring with a shout of, "Luna, game set!" Luna took the stage and put on as flashy a show as she could, digging into the ground and tearing it up.

"A zangoose; sweet!" Kory declared. "Been a while since I've seen someone with enough guts to challenge me with a Normal-type, even if it _is_ just Tyrogue."

"Tyro?" the baby pokémon squeaked in offense. Kory rubbed the back of his head meekly and apologized.

"Sorry, little buddy," he laughed.

"Okay. Round Three: Tyrogue vs. Zangoose! Start the battle!" Fiona shouted as she raised the flags.

"Alright, Luna. Let's take this slow. Use -" Jameson started.

"Zan!" Luna barked as she lunged at Tyrogue, totally jumping the gun. She viciously swiped at Tyrogue and left two deep gashes across the little one's chest. Next, she used Crush Claw to bat away the Fighting-type, chase after him, and slam his entire body into the battlefield. As soon as the little one got back up, Luna assaulted with repeated Slash attacks, leaving his body riddled with gashes and scratches.

"Luna, what the hell?" James screamed. "I didn't say to start!"

"Tyrogue, you alright in there?" Kory called in concern. Tyrogue bounded back up, breathing heavily but still able to fight.

"Ro!" he grunted with a nod. Tyrogue glared at Luna and she looked back with her trademark psychotic grin and licked her claws. Tyrogue felt no fear.

"Good, Tyrogue. Don't let 'em see ya sweat," Kory praised. "Hit her with Strength!" Tyrogue let out a passionate bellow and pulled his fist back. The muscles in his arms grew to three times their size and he jumped at Luna, ready to slug her.

_Eat this!_ he shouted.

"Luna, dodge him and use Slash!" James cried. Luna did the exact opposite of what he said: she crossed her arms defensively in front of her and took the full brunt of the attack, pushing Tyrogue back and then used Quick Attack. She rammed her shoulder into Tyrogue's gut and the little one's eyes bulged out of his head. Luna streaked forward, light streaming behind her and propelling her forward until her dash was abruptly stopped by the tree behind Kory. Tyrogue thought he felt something in his little back crack and gasped in pain.

Both trainers, the spectators, and Fiona gasped as one at Luna's brutal display. Kory cried out in concern for his pokémon and James shouted angrily at his. Grey and Soul winced, Lucy looked away, and even Strabi hissed in sympathy for Tyrogue. Rachel had a hand over her open mouth in pure shock and found herself disliking pokémon battles even more. Vulpix only shook her head disappointedly. Juniper fought the urge to scream out as if she'd been hit with Luna's attack and Rosewood buried her head in her trainer's scarlet hair, unwilling to watch Luna fight.

"Luna, what the hell was that?" Jameson raged. "I didn't tell you to lay into him like that!"

"James, what's wrong with her?" Grey called from the sidelines.

"I don't know!" James answered anxiously. "She's not accepting any of my commands. This didn't happen in training! Damn it…" Jameson felt the urge to punch something and release the stress he was quickly accumulating. Luna jumped back to her side of the field, oblivious to James's anger. Tyrogue slid down the tree and his arms hung limp on the ground.

"Time out!" Kory shouted at his sister. Fiona nodded and allowed his request.

"Gym Leader Kory has used up his one time out," she announced.

"Tyrogue, are you okay…?" Kory asked uncertainly. Tyrogue answered with a weak grunt that turned into a rage-filled growl. He pushed himself up and set his face into a scowl, stomping back onto the field. "T-Tyrogue?"

"Tyyyy-RO!" Tyrogue bellowed. He crossed his arms in front of him and built up power before releasing all of it by pumping his arms down and letting all of it out. "Tyyyyy…!" Tyrogue began to glow with a powerful white light and he began to grow.

"No way!" Kory shouted with a grin and a victorious punch. "I've been waiting for this!"

"Tyrogue's evolving!" Grey and Juniper chorused.

"Damn it…!" Jameson cursed under his breath.

Tyrogue's tiny body expanded and grew taller, especially his legs. His arms grew but still remained shorter than his legs and his neck completely merged with his head and body. The light finally died down and in Tyrogue's place stood a hitmonlee, completely fighting fit. It did a few kicks, legs extending a bit further with each one.

"Hit! Mon! Lee!" Hitmonlee grunted with each kick. He pointed at Luna and his eyes narrowed angrily. It was time for a bit of revenge. Grey silently took out his Pokédex and scanned the newly evolved hitmonlee.

**Hitmonlee, the Kicking Pokémon,** Dexter said.** Hitmonlee possesses an incredible sense of balance and is able to kick from almost any kind of body position. When it kicks, its foot turns as hard as diamond on impact. Hitmonlee's legs are empowered with an absurd amount of elastin which allows its legs to stretch and strike a fleeing foe. Hitmonlee is a dedicated fighter and it likes to rub down its muscles after a hard workout.**

"Oh, James is in the doghouse now…" Grey muttered.

"Let's try this out again," Kory said, devilish grin forming. "Hitmonlee!"

"Hitmon!" the Kicking Pokémon replied.

"You've got a few new moves after evolving, right?"

"Mon lee," the fighter nodded confidently, never breaking his gaze at Luna. Jameson stiffened up nervously.

"Then let's test a few of them out. Time in, Fiona!"

"Right!" Fiona nodded. "Restart the battle!"

"Hitmonlee, Rolling Kick!" Kory marshaled.

"Luna, dodge!" James screamed desperately. Hitmonlee threw a powerful kick while stretching his legs, catching Luna in the side before she could dodge. Hitmonlee continued his attack, sweeping Luna into the tree to the side and enjoying it greatly when she slammed into the bark. The dual slam to Luna's gut and back drove the cat-ferret to cry out in pain. "Damn it! Luna!"

"Z-Zan…" Luna groaned. She pushed herself back up and glared at Hitmonlee who only gave her a cocky look in return. Oh, how sweet revenge was. Grey got up out of his seat and beckoned his pokémon to follow. His sights lingered on Hitmonlee for a moment before he made his way towards the exit.

"Where're you headed, Grey?" asked Rachel.

"Training. I think I've got enough to work on," Grey replied.

* * *

Sonia walked out of the Pokémon Centre dressed in her civvies with Bayleef at her side. Her hair had been let out of that stifling helmet and reached down to her shoulders. She wore a simple black long-sleeved shirt under a jeans jacket and tan capri pants. Finally, she kept a green beanie atop her head.

She entered the near-empty two acre field behind the centre and let the pokémon she'd be using on this mission out. Three flashes of light produced three pokémon, all raised by Sonia with care. As soon as he was let out, Alakazam started making his spoons revolve around one another with an unbelievably bored look. Persian stretched out her lithe body and proceeded to rub against Sonia's leg affectionately while Staraptor immediately took to the skies to stretch his wings.

"Okay," Sonia began, giving her troops the once-over. "This is fairly simple. Alakazam, normally we'd teleport in, but this is a stealth mission, so that's out the window. I need you to remove any sort of barriers or glass or alarms from the target by sending them somewhere. Anywhere; I really don't give a damn."

"Kaza," the Psi Pokémon yawned. He nodded and held out his hand expectantly. Sonia giggled and dug in her bag for an apple which Alakazam accepted gratefully.

"Now, Persian," she said, turning to the classy cat. She bent down and scratched behind her ears and cooed, "My little Persie's gonna have a very important job today. You know what that is?"

"Perrrsya…?" the feline asked with a dreamy sigh.

"You are going to keep away anybody who tries to stop Mommy from doing her job, okay? If you do, I'll buy you a big juicy steak when we get back, Persie." Persian yowled in happiness and nodded quickly.

"Good girl," Sonia laughed. She gave Persian a quick peck on the forehead and looked up at her staraptor. The big gray bird was currently doing flips and rolls in the air in order to show off for a nearby pidgeotto.

"And Casanova up there is our mode of escape. Plain and simple," she said under her breath. "After that, I can detach myself from stupid Team Regal and live an easy life like I always wanted. Just me, myself, and my pokémon."

"Bay!" the Leaf Pokémon barked. Sonia stroked his leaf and went to go sit down on one of the benches. She put her head in her hands and pouted childishly, thinking about how she'd never found those trainers she'd seen in the plains and kicked herself for it. That was pretty much the only form of entertainment she had considering all the trainers in Mélange Town were pushovers compared to her skills. Even the eevee she had with her was more than a good enough match for them.

One of the boys in the acre, a brash one with expensive looking clothes, a square jaw, and a smug look on his face sauntered over and held out his hand. "David Tollen, my lovely; a pleasure to make your acquaintance," he said in a haughty voice.

"Yeah, whatever," Sonia muttered. "You want somethin'?" She glared up at him, annoyed. Rich people always got on her nerves with their snobby attitudes.

"Not one to waste time, I see," David remarked with a smirk. "I like that in a woman. I'll be frank as well. I'd like a date with you and -" David was stopped by Sonia's hand in his face. "Eh…what?"

"Since you like things so brief, I can guess that…certain other aspects of your skills are the same way," Sonia said insultingly. David's face broke out in a wild blush and he started stuttering, utterly offended. "Let me save the both of us the trouble: I don't date losers. Alakazam, Teleport."

"Ala!" the Psychic-type grunted. He crossed his spoons in front of him and his eyes glowed an ethereal blue as he focused all his energies on removing David from the area. With a flash of light and a startled yell from David, the boy was gone and Sonia smiled.

"Perfect as always, Alakazam," she said appreciatively.

"Ka."

It was then that Grey walked in, hands shoved in his pockets and his face set uncharacteristically in thought. His three pokémon followed behind him and were soon followed by Maverick when Grey let him out. Sonia spotted him and recognized him as the trainer in red from the plains. A devious smile and thought simultaneously came to her. She needed a bit of entertainment as long as she was in the city and… No, that Idea was a bit _too_ devious. Then again, who said what was and wasn't in this world?

"Hey!" she called, waving an arm in the air. Several of the people in the acre looked over at her in confusion. She shook her head and pointed straight at Grey, who pointed at himself curiously.

"Me?" he asked. "What's up?"

"Yes, you!" she giggled flirtatiously. "I wanna talk to you." Oh, this was going to be _SO _much fun. A thin line of red spread across the bridge of Grey's nose and he nervously approached Sonia, completely unaware of what was going to happen to him.

* * *

"Take her down, Hitmonlee! Reverse Rolling Kick!" Kory shouted with a pumped grin. Hitmonlee more than happily obliged and rammed his diamond-hard foot straight into the side of Luna's face, dazing her and actually causing her to spin in the air. Jameson could only watch as Kory demanded Hitmonlee to juggle his zangoose with Double Kick before the Fighting-type literally swept Luna's feet from under her, kicked her into the air and proceeded to repeatedly knock her further up with each vigorous kick.

"ZAAA…!" Luna howled in pain.

"Luna, strike back!" James hollered. "Come on! Use your ThunderPunch!"

"As if we'd let you," Kory cut in. "Hitmonlee, Mega Kick!" While still in the air, Hitmonlee tucked in and rolled like a pinwheel. At the last second, he extended his leg and attempted to drive his heel into Luna's stomach but, miraculously, Luna shifted out of the way and Hitmonlee's newly evolved legs crashed into the ground and left a smoking crater. Landing and catching her breath, Luna looked pleased as Hitmonlee nursed his now now aching leg, wincing.

"Crap, we overworked you," Kory lamented. "Get out of there!" That's when Jameson saw his chance.

"Luna, one more Quick Attack!" With a savage snarl, Luna sprinted forward again and punched Hitmonlee in the stomach. The winded Fighting-type was then left wide open to a ThunderPunch attack followed by Jameson's cry of,

"Dig, now!" Luna actually obeyed again and dove into the ground before breaching back out like a wailmer and cross-slashing Hitmonlee. Hitmonlee stood back up defiantly to continue the battle, but his eyes blurred over and he fell backwards, defeated.

"Hitmonlee!" Kory cried.

"Hitmonlee is unable to battle!" Fiona said. "Zangoose is the winner!" Jameson breathed a huge sigh of relief and called Luna back to his side. The zangoose, proud of her win, trotted over on all fours only to see Jameson did not have a proud smile on his face. Her own fell when he fixed her with a disappointed look.

"Luna, that wasn't good what you did out there. You almost really hurt Hitmonlee and you could've gotten hurt. Look at those bruises!" Jameson admonished. It was indeed true: Luna's body had several malignant-looking bruises on it, especially the most recent Double Kick-induced ones on her back. She looked down in shame.

"Return," Jameson sighed. He looked at her poké ball and said, "We'll talk about this later."

"'K now, trainer," Kory said almost resignedly. "Down to my last one while you've still got all three of yours up. You are one tough customer." Jameson smiled at the compliment. "But, inside this poké ball is my first-ever pokémon. You won't be beating us so easy."

"Then quit talking and bring him out," James challenged. He knew what Kory's last pokémon would be and quickly formed a battle plan.

"This is it," June said tensely. "Last pokémon before James's badge. What are you thinking so far, everyone?"

_That James is an amazing battler,_ Rosewood answered, awed. _When did he get so good?_ Rachel said the exact same thing out loud.

"I do not really know," Juniper admitted. "But all I can say is that Grey has found himself a really powerful rival. I don't know if he will be able to beat Jameson in a battle."

"Yeah, I know; James really gives my little bro a run for his money. Wonder if he'll finally knock Grey's ego down a few pegs?" Rachel asked.

_I wouldn't doubt it,_ Vulpix said with a smirk.

"Okay," Kory muttered, drawing Monferno's poké ball and gripping it tightly. Jameson took Sniper's off his belt and prayed to whatever gods there were that his paralysis wasn't too bad.

"Monferno, it's all you, bud!"

"Sniper, game set!"

The Mantis and Playful Pokémon took their places on their respective sides of the field. Monferno did a few back flips and began to chatter excitedly while Sniper still suffered from his paralysis. His body crackled with electricity at irregular intervals and he was breathing heavily from exhaustion.

"What's he thinking sending Sniper out there?" Rachel hissed in disbelief.

"Maybe he is trying to weaken Monferno before he tries to defeat him?" June theorized. "Truthfully, I am not so sure. Sniper is at a huge disadvantage."

_There's a totally logical solution,_ Vulpix said. _The kid's gone insane._

_Yep, I believe that,_ Rosewood nodded.

"Sniper's at a huge disadvantage; paralyzed and against a Fire-type. I'd better make this quick and fair to him," Jameson said out loud. "Okay, ref. I'm ready."

"Monferno vs. Scyther! Let the battle begin!" Fiona called.

"Mach Punch!" Kory shouted without hesitation. Monferno howled and pushed forward with a glowing fist. Sniper looked at James out of the corner of his eye and the human gave him a slight nod. Recognizing the signal, Sniper tilted his head ever so slightly when Monferno threw his punch an retaliated with Slash. By some grace of the gods, the hit was critical and left Monferno cradling a nasty looking gash.

"Did you even give him a -" Kory began in shock.

"Nothing you need to know," Jameson smirked. "Sniper, Wing Attack!"

"Scytha!" Scyther's glowing wings impacted Monferno and clipped just above his eyebrow. A line of blood began to trickle and fell into the monkey pokémon's eye, blinding it.

"Monferno! No giving up! Use Flame Wheel!" Kory commanded. Monferno threw himself back up and formed a fireball in his mouth while trilling. He hopped into the air and did a tuck-and-roll, becoming a literal flame wheel that tore across the battlefield and left a long scorch mark in its wake.

Sniper did his best to dodge but his paralysis kicked in and kept him rooted to the spot with a muscle seizure. Sniper cried out when Monferno crashed into him and kept on rolling after impact, ensuring multiple burns. Monferno dispelled his Flame Wheel and let the embers wash over Sniper's falling form. The scyther couldn't continue to battle or get back up no matter how hard he tried.

"Scyther is unable to battle! Monferno is the winner," Fiona said. "It's down to the wire now." Jameson sighed and walked onto the field to pick up Sniper. He cradled his partner's head in his arms and lightly shook him awake. Sniper weakly opened his eyes and gave an equally feeble grin.

_At least I tried, James,_ he said. James nodded with a smile and gave his scyther a hug.

"Thanks, partner. You really did your best out there. Take a well-earned rest." Sniper did not protest and let himself be called back into the poké ball's waiting embrace. "Thanks again, Snipe."

"Your scyther was a real badass in this fight, dude. Props on raising him so well," Kory complimented. "He even fought past Breloom's Stun Spore and that's not something most pokémon can do."

"Thanks, but I think this battle's gone on long enough. What do you say we end it?" Jameson suggested as he replaced Sniper's ball with another and clutched it.

"I'd say 'let's do it'," Kory replied with a friendly grin. "I've got a lot to do today and I'd prefer it if I won ASAP."

"Who said you're the one who's gonna win?" James challenged. "It's me all the way. Luna, game set!" Luna reappeared on the field and brandished her claws at Monferno challengingly.

_Bring it on, girlie,_ the fire monkey challenged._ I'll take whatever ya got._

_Oh, you're gonna wish you hadn't said that, banana breath,_ Luna snarled evilly, a fanged grin widening on her face as she leaned forward.

_Banana breath? Really? Is that the best you got? In that case, this battle's all mine!_ Monferno hooted. He beat his chest proudly and snorted out a few embers.

"Monferno, ground it," Kory warned. "She's got a few moves that could really hit hard." Monferno immediately obeyed and centered himself, locking away his ego.

"Luna, don't fly off the handle like last time. I don't want you to get hurt and I don't want you hurting Monferno too bad either, okay?" Luna gave a grudging nod. "Good girl. If we win, I'll get you something nice after the match."

"Zang!" she cried happily. Jameson's incentive fully grabbed her attention; she straightened back up and shifted out of mania mode into something James hadn't seen her do before. Luna closed her eyes and took a deep, cleansing breath. When she let it out, her eyes were half-closed and completely devoid of insanity. Rather, she looked at peace and almost even bored.

_Let's do this,_ she said placidly. Confused by Luna's sudden change in attitude, everybody wondered if there more than just two sides to Jameson's zangoose. Fiona raised her flags and gave the command to start the battle.

"Luna, hit hard and end this quickly. Swords Dance, now," Jameson commanded with a cool head. He crossed his arms and waited while Luna performed an intricate battle dance that made her claws adopt a purple glow. Kory shouted for Monferno to go in with another Mach Punch attack and James told Luna to block. Without so much as even blinking, Luna lazily raised a paw and completely stopped Monferno's charge. The surprised monkey bore a look of shock identical to his trainer's and Jameson's smirk grew into a full blown grin.

"Now _that's _what I'm talkin' about, Luna!" he cheered. He crossed his arms confidently and said, "Crush Claw and keep up the assault."

"Zan," Luna said monotonously. The glow of her claws shifted from purple to sheer white and she began slamming and rending Monferno's body as viciously and as rapidly as possible. The level of power behind her attacks was even greater than that of her mania mode and was made obvious by the way Monferno staggered.

"Damn…" Kory muttered in awe. Snapping out of it he shouted, "Monferno! Focus Punch attack!" Monferno's eyes glowed and he willed his fist to take on a glow six times more powerful than a Mach Punch's. While still in close quarters with Luna he slammed it into her cheek, a blow that shook the air so hard that everybody felt it and winced. Luna grit her teeth and put her paws together to form a shimmering blue orb that doubled in size with each passing second.

"Water Pulse!" Jameson commanded. Kory cursed loudly knowing that Monferno couldn't take a super-effective move at close range.

"Get out of there!" he shouted with a slash of his hand through the air. But it was too late. Luna shifted back to mania mode and rammed the Water Pulse into Monferno with a savage roar. It exploded, sending an unidirectional wave out to swamp the monkey over to Kory's side of the field. When the water went down, Monferno was lying in a soaking heap at Kory's feet, his tail flame weak from being doused and a dazed look on his face. He coughed out water before finally submitting to unconsciousness. Luna, now back to normal, was breathing heavily and her arms hung limp at her sides but she smiled in triumph. Up in the stands, the girls broke out into cheers of congratulations for James.

"Monferno is unable to battle!" Fiona declared officially. "Zangoose is the winner and the match goes to Jameson of Fuchsia City!"

"And that's how we take care of business," James said. He bent down to receive a tired Luna as she approached him and subsequently fell into his arms, tired as all get-out. James stroked her furry and slightly wet head and thanked her for fighting so hard. He saw Kory approaching him with Monferno in his arms and gave him a look that said 'Well?'.

"Okay, okay," Kory half-laughed-half-sighed. "Come back later on for your badge; just lemme get my team all healed up. Nice match, trainer." Kory held his hand out in good sportsmanship. Jameson accepted it with a kind grin.

"The name's James. And you, too."

* * *

Kestrel discreetly opened his flask and took a dab of honey out of the jar he'd bought from Danny. He wiped it on the mouth of the flask and capped it before vigorously shaking it. When the mixture was to his liking, Kestrel uncapped it and took a swig. His taste buds nearly sang out in happiness at the glorious taste combination.

"Phew!" he gasped rather loudly. "That is some _good_ drink." He ignored the stares that the concerned mothers were giving him and the inquisitive gazes of the nine-year-olds who asked what he was drinking and answered his mic when it beeped. He wiped the excess alcohol off his mouth and moved over to a nearby empty hallway before asking who it was.

"Sir, we've almost got the security cameras offline," Sparrow reported. "It's only a matter of time until everything is under our control. Under the control of Team Simurgh!"

"Don't get ahead of yourself," Canard's voice chided. "We've still much to do until _everything_ is ours. For now, let's just focus on the thing we came here to get."

"Canard is indeed correct. We focus on the target and we _do not_ harm any civilians. We don't want the media finding out about us," Kestrel said, stressing every word. "Finch, how's the tour?" he joked. A laugh was his response.

"'S really interestin', Kestrel; you know people estimate Groudon to be as old as the planet? When're those cam'ras gonna be knocked out?" The man's accent augmented his already jovial voice. It was probably the only reason Sparrow didn't kill him on their dates.

"Soon; soon. Just be patient," Kestrel chuckled. "So far, everything's going according to plan."

"Oh, hey, Kestrel, what're ya plannin' to do with that kid ya bought the honey from?" Finch asked.

"Yeah, I'd like to know, too," Sparrow chimed in. A grunt from Canard signified he agreed with the two.

"Oh, him. Daniel, I think it was." Kestrel looked over at the broom closet he locked Danny in after knocking him out. "If it comes to it, I can use him as a bargaining chip to make sure we make a clean getaway," Kestrel explained. "Though I thoroughly hope it doesn't come to that."

"Thought you said we wasn't killin' anyone," Canard said curiously.

"I won't kill him," Kestrel reassured. "I may be a sadist but I'm not a murderer."

"Do you have to be so open about the other thing?" Sparrow deadpanned. "Kinda makes me afraid of you, to be honest."

"Hehahah… Good, that means I'm doing my job," Kestrel laughed darkly. He could almost hear Sparrow shuddering.

"K, everyone," Canard suddenly announced, "forty more minutes and every last camera in this joint'll be offline. Then we strike." Kestrel gave a small smile that showcased his oddly pointed teeth. Forty minutes more and it was going to be show time.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, James, the girls, and James' pokémon were standing in front of the Mélange Town Gym. Fiona stood between him and her brother, who also had Breloom, Mankey, Monferno, and Hitmonlee out with him. Kory held a small case in his right hand and James held his badge case in his. After Hitmonlee finished shaking Sniper's blade, Kory stepped forward and offered the case.

"Alright, officially, I'm s'pposed to say 'It was an honor battling you and I hereby confer you the official Combat Badge', but that's a bit too unlike my style," Kory said with a laid-back grin.

"Kory, follow the rules!" Fiona admonished.

"Oh, don't be such a killjoy, sis," Kory laughed.

"Remind you of anybody, Rachel?" June asked while stifling a laugh and elbowing the older girl in the ribs playfully.

"No. Who do you mean?" the pinkette asked obliviously. Juniper and her furret simultaneously face-palmed.

"That's cool with me," James said with a shrug. "Either way, you fought a great battle. A lot harder than the one in Knight City."

"Scy-yi," Sniper agreed.

_Speak for yourself; that Mankey was a pushover,_ Shishi snorted.

_Watch it, ectoplasm,_ Mankey fumed.

"You fought well yourself. It was like I was up against another Gym Leader or something. Albeit a rookie leader; can't give you too much credit," Kory said with a laugh. "Anyway, here. You earned the Combat Badge." He offered the case and James took it with an eager grin. Opening the case, he found a small piece of metal identical to the symbol above Kory's side of the battlefield. He took the badge out and placed it right next to his Geo Badge with pride.

"Thanks, Kory," he said. He turned to his pokémon and bowed respectfully to them. "And thanks to you guys, too. I literally couldn't have done this without you." A trio of cries from his pokémon told him they felt the same.

_Well, maybe _I _could've,_ Luna bragged.

"Next Gym's over in Springbloom City. It's to the northeast of here and it's really far away, so you might want to pack a few snacks," Kory advised. "By the way, that friend of yours who bailed on us comin' to battle me soon?"

"Yeah," Rachel said. "Probably tomorrow knowing Grey. He's off training right about now." Kory pumped his fists excitedly.

"When you see him, tell him I'm ready whenever he is!" he said. "Just tell him to bring his best or else I'll drive him into the dust." Jameson barely listened and instead focused his attention on his shiny new Gym Badge.

"Two down, ten more to go," he said aloud. "And then it's the Pokémon League. We're getting closer."

* * *

**End Chapter 12. First off, I'd like to thank PR Corp for giving me such a spectacularly positive review and I hope that he or she like this chapter as well. I had fun writing Jameson's Gym Battle which, at this point, is the longest battle to have ever taken place in all 12 chapters. Give it up for Jimmy, y'all.**

**And now marks the beginning of Kestrel's plan and Sonia's arrival in Mélange Town. You know shiz is gonna go down and it's gonna be serious. Plus, judging by what Sonia said at the beginning of this, you can bet Grey's in for some trouble, too.**

**This is really going to throw a wrench in Grey's training, though. Whatever it is Sonia has planned, that is. His battle with Kory might get postponed.**

**And exactly what is it that Kestrel and his 'flock' are looking for? An ancient treasure in the museum? A map? Hm…**

**Well, that's all for now, folks. You know the drill; read and review and read some more!**

**CHAPTER PREVIEW:**

**Grey:**Oh, crap; what'd I get myself into? Following this crazy girl into the middle of a heist at museum tower? And this totally cuts into my training! Man, what're we gonna do?

**Soul:** Char charmander~!

**Grey:** You're right, Soul; we can get through this alive. All we have to do is battle our way through. Just…think of it as training.

**Strabi: **Shiyaah!

**Lucy: **Bui…

**Grey: **What's wrong, Lucy? You have something to tell me? Next time on _Challenger!_: A Meeting to Remember: The Sadistic Mr. Kestrel? Looks like we've met another group of nut jobs, Soul…

**Sonia: **Okay, but I'm still cute, right?

**Grey:** Who let you into this preview?


	13. Sadistic Mr Kestrel

**Wow, I have eleven favorites for this story and 8 people put it on their alert lists. Sweet. Never thought that many people would like it what with this only having eighteen wonderful reviews. Now I have even more motivation to keep writing this story! Well, that, and the fact that I want to get up to the point in the story when Grey and James transition from novice trainers into semi-badass upper-midlevel trainers. I've got it all in the story outline and damn it all if I'm not proud of it. I think you guys'll like it, too.**

**P.S. Alteris, mah brothah, expect to see your OC come in some time around Almond Town. Ricki, the first of yours is making his first appearance in Springbloom and the again in Passing town, and Lolli-S, your girl will appear in Passing Town. **

**Oh, yeah, I almost forgot, Lolli-S, author of the Louhearst Expedition, allowed me to create an official Challenger Discussion Thread on her forums. If you need a little change of pace, put her name in the search engine, go to the thread on her forum and read a few of her stories. Thanks again, Lolli :D**

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Pokémon, then I'd be a very rich Japanese man. I'm a sixteen-year-old kid in high school. You do the math, people.

KEY:

"normal speech"

"_thought"_

_translated pokémon speech_

"blah blah blah _emphasis _blah blah blah"

**Pokédex Entries**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 13:** A Meeting to Remember: The Sadistic Mr. Kestrel?

"_How in the hell did I get myself mixed into this?"_ Grey thought disbelievingly. He dove under Fearow's Drill Peck attack and found himself thankful that he was as fast as he was. Fearow busted through and out of a window while Kestrel stood by with his hands in his pockets, laughing his head off at the boy's peril. He didn't even break his stream of laugher for a second even when Soul pitched a fireball at his head.

"Soul, focus on the Fearow! Fire Fang!" Grey shouted. Fearow was not about to let that happen and shattered yet another window with Aerial Ace. His long, spear-like beak cut a path of blood across Soul's stomach before a wing strike sent the fire lizard to the floor. The air currents came next, slicing into Soul's body like a hundred knives. Blood droplets flew into the air.

"NO!" Grey roared. Without any further thoughts of his own safety, he rushed in and tackled Fearow away just as he was about to use Fury Attack on Soul's downed form. Next, Grey actually punched the bird in the chest before picking up his partner and examining his wound.

"Cha-aaar…." he groaned weakly. Soul defied his pain and got right back up, wincing as he did, while Grey fixed Kestrel with a debilitating, rage-filled glare. At the same time, he wondered again exactly how he got himself into this mess…

* * *

**Mélange Town Pokémon Centre: Forty Minutes Ago**

"Were you talkin' to me?" Grey asked Sonia, pointing at himself. Sonia gave him a disarming smile and said rather cheerfully,

"Of course I was, cutie! My name's Sonia. Your name is?" The blush line across Grey's face spread and deepened in its redness. _"This is going to be _way_ too easy," _Sonia thought devilishly.

"Grey…" Grey said awkwardly. "Grey Thomas."

_Dude, who's the chick?_ Lucy asked suspiciously. _Something smells off about her._

_Dunno,_ Soul answered with a shrug. _But she don't seem too bad. Let's just roll with it; this is the first girl to ever take an interest in Grey._

_I think by human standards, that is considered 'pathetic', yes?_ asked Strabi.

"Listen," Sonia began while making full use of her charm. "I'm new in town here and I was thinkin' about headed over to Museum Tower for a bit. But a girl like me could get lost in a town I know nothing about and I was wondering…"

Grey gulped nervously before asking, "Wondering what? If I'd help ya out a bit, you mean?" Sonia clapped her hands together and nodded at him.

"Yes, that's exactly what I mean! I'd love for you to escort me, a powerful trainer like you." Sonia winked suggestively at him and Grey melted like butter over Soul's flame.

"Well, if you say so," he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head with a grin. "Oh! Wait… I don't think I can. See, I've got a Gym Battle tomorrow and I really wanna to get some training in before I do anythin' else."

"Aww, really!" Sonia cried. "You'd rather get all sweaty and dirty training than take a pretty girl like me out on a date?"

_I changed my mind. Grey, I know you can barely understand me, _Soul said frantically, _but listen to me when I say It's a TRAP!"_

"Well…" Grey faced himself in a mental weighing of his options. On the one hand, he could get his priorities straight and train for his match tomorrow. He'd seen first hand Kory's strength and he knew he didn't stand much of a chance if Soul didn't learn Aerial Ace quickly. And on the other hand, the hormones came into play. There was no doubt that Sonia was attractive and, like Soul had said, she was just about the only girl who'd seemingly showed interest in Grey since before he could remember. In the end, there could really only be one winner.

"Why not? I can move my Gym Battle back a day," he replied, smiling. Soul slammed his tiny palm into his face in frustration. He knew he couldn't have picked who his trainer was and he loved him, but did Grey _have_ to think with his hormones?

"That's perfect!" Sonia cried happily. "Just give me a few minutes to freshen up and take care of some things, 'kay? Twenty - thirty minutes max." Grey nodded and Sonia did a little hop where she stood. She winked at the trainer boy again and walked off towards her persian, putting a little swing in her hips as she did.

"….Damn," Grey muttered. He turned to and bent down level with Soul excitedly and said, "Did you _see_ that, Soul? That girl actually wants to go on a date with me. And out of nowhere, too! Man, I must be better looking than I thought."

_You idiot!_ Soul screamed in poké-speech. He smacked his trainer upside the head with his tail and snarled at him. _We have a Gym Battle tomorrow and you go off with some random girl! How thick are you?_

_Doesn't that seem real suspicious to him? Like, at all? _Lucy wondered aloud.

_He is lucky he's got potential otherwise I'd be outta here,_ Strabi muttered sarcastically. _Rock snake, what do you think about this?_

_He's an idiot; plain and simple, _Maverick said flatly _Doesn't matter anyway. I'll be stuck in my ball if we go indoors._

"Ow, Soul! What the hell!" Grey shouted. He rubbed the side of his head and gave Soul a confused and slightly ticked off look.

"Char! Charmander!" Soul huffed angrily. He crossed his arms and set his face in an annoyed glare at his trainer, knowing Grey understood the message.

"Okay, okay, I get it. We'll do some training with Aerial Ace while she's getting ready. Ya didn't have to smack me though…" Grey grumbled.

_Oh, yes I did,_ Soul shot back.

Grey led his team past the other trainers in the clearing. Some of them would hold up poké balls at him but he ignored the universal sign of challenge with the only excuse one could use to get out of a battle,

"I gotta do some training. Sorry."

Grey looked up at the blue cloud-strewn sky and guessed that it was around mid to late afternoon. Plenty of time to get started on Soul's Aerial Ace training. He'd finish with Strabi's Iron Tail problems the next day and have Soul learn Will-O-Wisp when he was done with that. In his mind, that was the perfect way to go about things.

Grey found a that the entire second acre didn't have any other trainers around. When he wondered why, he saw a nearby sign that read: "Training Zone: To be used strictly as such."

"Wow. Either everyone in this town's stronger than I thought or they're all sleepin' something off," Grey theorized. He shrugged off the thought and took out his Pokédex once more to go over how a land-bound pokémon was supposed to execute an Aerial Ace in the first place.

**Aerial Ace,** Dexter chimed. **A Flying-type damage dealing move that is always sure to hit. It is quite easy for a pokémon that is able to fly to grasp this move but it proves challenging for those on the ground. Aerial Ace is executed by putting on a powerful burst of speed that literally splits the wind and uses that as a weapon. The powerful cutting wind coupled with the generated speed augments the strength of the impact when Aerial Ace hits. Though difficult, all pokémon that are capable of learning this attack can put on the necessary speed to perform it.**

Next, the Pokédex accessed the data it had already gathered from Soul and created a tiny doppelganger of him onscreen. The miniature Soul performed the Aerial Ace attack with ease, pushing off the ground to generate the speed and twisting around to strike a digital target. A bright "OK!" flashed after this.

**Potential to execute the attack: AERIAL ACE - 72%**

"Awesome! We stand a pretty good chance, Soul!" Grey grinned and clenched his fist in victory and Soul smirked and crossed his arms.

_As if there were any doubt,_ he said confidently. _Now let's get to trainin', Grey._

"Right," Grey grunted as Soul took his usual battle stance. "Everyone else, take a break 'n wish us luck. It says here that you need to concentrate your energy into your muscles and release it all at once through your legs to get up the speed. Your legs are already pretty strong, but let's try something else to help strengthen them…"

Maverick gave a low rumble and dropped his tail next to Grey, making the boy, his charmander and the two female pokémon hop into the air. He nodded at Soul and placed the tip of his tail against Soul's feet. Soul understood what his onix comrade was doing and lay down flat on his back with his feet touching Maverick's tail.

"Oh, I get it. We're gonna work out Soul's leg muscles," Grey realized. "Nice thinking, Maverick. Okay, twenty pushes, Soul!"

* * *

Darkness. That was the first thing that the young man's senses picked up as he woozily forced himself awake. The next to start was his sense of touch: The feeling of something oddly furry sitting on his head. He brought his hand up to it and discovered that it was slightly damp, whatever it was. The third sense to reactivate was his sense of smell. The powerful, obnoxious aroma of bleach assaulted his nose and nearly made him gag up his breakfast. Danny quickly figured out exactly where he was.

"The freakin' broom closet?" he whispered viperishly. "Seriously? What the hell, man; I think that bastard actually owes me sixteen bucks!" Danny pushed himself back up and knocked the mop off his head in annoyance.

"What kind of sadistic jerk knocks a dude out and stuffs him in a broom closet?" he asked the air. "Am I gonna have to get myself tested later on…? Dear Arceus, I hope not." Danny pushed the door of the broom closet open and his eyes quickly adjusted to the light.

Looking around, he saw that nothing was amiss. The people still enjoyed the various exhibits of the fourth floor, especially the rampardos skeleton that stood in the center. The elevator seemed to still be running fine judging by the soft ding that reached Danny's ears. Digging around in his pockets, he saw that all the money he'd made and the keys to his truck were still in there.

So why was he feeling as if there were something he was missing…? Something very important… Danny suddenly felt a rage brewing in his stomach that made him want to punch a small child. He rushed back into the broom closet, slammed the door shut to save the ears of the innocent and let loose.

"Son of a bitch!" he roared. "That pasty-faced bastard stole my honey basket!" Danny threw open the door again and started scouring the entire floor for him. When he found nothing, he went for the stairs to start searching the fifth floor.

And steal the basket he did. Kestrel was now up on Museum Tower's fifth out of sixteen floors having himself an enjoyable honey break in the mini-café. He savored the flavor and licked the goop off his pointed teeth greedily before placing the now empty jar into the basket. So far, he'd eaten three jars and deemed that as his limit. Any more honey and he might quite literally have sweet teeth.

"Just a little while longer, boss," Canard said through the boredom. "Twenty-five more minutes. God _damn_, I really hate deciphering so many lines of freakin' code. It can never be easy, can it?"

"Aye, but where'd the fun be in an easy job, Canard? Ya gotta be thankful for things like this," Finch chimed in with his musical voice.

"Thankful? Man, you're outta your gourd," Canard retorted. "Much rather wax my own eyebrows off."

"What eyebrows?" Sparrow condescended.

"Nice," Finch chuckled.

"Listen, bitch!" Canard began hotly.

"That's enough of that," Kestrel cut in, laughing. "As completely hilarious as this all is, you idiots have jobs to do so let's not go back to our middle school days. Finch, did you finish setting the knockout gas charges yet or were you having too much fun?"

"Yeah, yeah, I did it; have a li'l more faith in me, boss man. Got a bit distracted durin' the aerodactyl exhibit but I got it all done. Ready ta go any time."

"Good," Kestrel said before he tuned out his subordinates to take a look around. Every floor of Museum Tower had a main exhibit that matched the theme of the floor. The fifth was none other than the deep sea exhibit.

A real live huntail and relicanth actually resided in the massive aquarium that spanned the circumference of the room and a model of the famous submarine from Hoenn stood in the center of the room. The rest of the exhibit mainly consisted of soil samples and artifacts dug up from the seafloor. There was even a piece of wall believed to have come from the ancient city of Pokélantis.

Right now, Kestrel dined in the 'Deep Blue Café' off to the side of the main exhibit. The décor was rather tackily (in his opinion) modeled after an obvious sea theme. All the workers were required to wear funny little chinchou hats and the deep blue fluorescent lighting was supposed to make everything look more authentic. It just made it look as if everybody had had their skin dyed blue. Kestrel was the only person in the café at the moment; everybody else was either ogling the rare Water-types or actually paying attention to the exhibit.

"That's got to be a miracle," Sparrow commented dryly. "Finch actually got something done and did it right. Congrats, dumbass."

"'Ey, I do plenty of things right," Finch said, smirk evident in his voice.

"Really?" Kestrel asked interestedly, getting drawn right back into the conversation. "Like what?"

"Yeah, enlighten us," Sparrow urged.

"Well, singin', for one. And pokémon battlin' and cookin'. And I didn't hear ya complainin' in bed last night either, Sparrow."

"Wha… You…" There was a silence followed by hurried footsteps over Sparrow's end of the intercom before finally she screamed, "Finch, I'm going to wring your neck! You swore you'd never tell anybody!"

"As if we didn't already know Finch was nailin' you," Canard snorted. "It's so damn obvious."

"He's right," Kestrel said bluntly. "And, by the by, Sparrow: that coverup you used to hide last Thursday's hickey? Didn't work too well."

"I hate all of you," Sparrow growled through her mic.

"Well, either way, there's only a little bit of time left now. Everyone start getting ready. Finch, your group get up near the tablet and stay near it when the party starts. Your job is more or less done," Kestrel said.

"Oh, yeah, boss. Found out that tablet thingy's on the eleventh floor. I'm on the eighth now. Want me to crush it or what?" Finch asked.

"Depends on my mood," Kestrel said offhandedly.

At the same time back at the Centre's two-acre, Grey and Soul's training was coming along quite nicely. Although sore from pushing Maverick's mammoth tail over and over, Soul's already tough legs had strengthened a little bit more after the workout. Their only problem now was actually using the attack the right way. Grey's other pokémon now stood on the sidelines while their trainer and his charmander prepared for their tenth consecutive attempt.

"Now!" Grey grunted as he tossed the apple into the sky with all his might. Soul leaned forward and pushed off the ground as hard as his little legs would let him and rocketed forward with astounding speed. He didn't go as fast as needed, though, and only ended up a little past the apple.

But Soul was never one to give up. He followed the falling apple with the utmost concentration and pushed off again, this time splitting the air at his nose and slashing the apple with his claws as it came down. The apple was now split into fourths and Grey cheered loudly at their success.

"Yeah, baby! That's how you do it, Soul!"

"Char!" Soul grunted through his tired breathing. He approached the sliced apple and took a piece for himself as a reward. As he was munching on it, Sonia came over. She crept up behind the celebrating Grey and put her hands over his eyes playfully.

"Guess who…?" She whispered in his ear.

"Sonia!" Grey shouted in surprise. "Hey, you're back! Check it out; Soul just learned Aerial Ace!"

"I saw, but it looks like you still need some fine tuning on it. Now, let's go!" Sonia grabbed his hand and tore him away from the training zone. Flustered, Grey called all his pokémon but Soul back into their balls one by one while he was being led away.

"You really wanna see the tower, don't you?" Grey asked with a laugh.

"Of course I do. It's full of so many exhibits and so much information, it's hard for me not to be interested," Sonia replied. She added under her breath, "That and the item I'm after is worth _quite_ the pretty penny."

Luckily for her, Grey was too busy staring at her face to hear what she was saying. Sonia led him back towards the Centre's back entrance, Soul hot on their heels. The transition from heat to air conditioning to heat again was slightly disorienting and surprising in its own way, but the way Soul began to faintly shine was even more so.

"Chaa…?" Soul wondered aloud.

"Huh?" Grey retrieved his hand from Sonia and turned around to see Soul's glow steadily and stably going. Soul himself was looking at his tiny hands in wonder and amazement while a peculiar power began to form and build inside his chest. The glow faded as soon as it'd come.

"Soul, were you just…?" Grey was forced to ask. Soul looked up at him unsurely at first but then nodded slowly at him. Normally, Grey would be jumping for joy at the fact that Soul was about to evolve but a more negative thought reached him first: When Soul evolved, would he still be the same pokémon? Or would he be someone completely different?

"Char?" _Grey?_ Soul asked tentatively when he sensed Grey's conflict.

"It's nothing, boy," Grey reassured him.

"Listen, as cute as this trainer-pokémon moment is, do you think we can get to the tower _before_ it closes?" Sonia asked. She giggled and took hold of Grey again, leading Grey through Mélange Town like a mother leads her child. Soul caught up and leapt onto Grey's head vaguely remembering Sonia saying she didn't know the layout of the town.

_If that's true, then why's she leading?_ The charmander shrugged it off. _The tower's the tallest thing in town. Guess she's just headin' towards it._

Sonia and Grey talked the entire way through the busy city. They blended in quite nicely with the river of people whose contents all seemed to flow to the same destination, so their conversation fell on completely deaf or indifferent ears.

"So is this your first time in town?" Sonia asked him.

"Yep. I'm here for my second badge. Might stick around a bit afterwards but then I gotta keep on moving," Grey answered cheerfully.

"How'd a cute guy like you end up in such a small town anyway? I'd think someone like you'd be more accustomed to the big city," Sonia said playfully. Grey blushed and said,

"I'm kinda not supposed to be here… See, my dad forbid me from coming but I just had to, y'know? I figure he's gonna kill me when I get back home but it's _so _worth it."

"Oooh," Sonia purred. "Aren't you bad?"

"I guess you could say that."

It went like that for the rest of the twenty minute walk through town. All the while, Soul tuned out Grey and Sonia's voices in favor of taking in the sights. Mélange Town was indeed small; most of the buildings they'd put behind them were all convenience stores and family-owned businesses with the occasional taller office building here and there. There was an abundant amount of greenery, too: an entire shopping plaza wasn't even paved over, it was all grass and a few trees! Not to mention the flowering shrubs that lined the sidewalks. Mélange Town obviously put a lot of stock towards nature. As they moved closer to the tower and by extension, further into town, the amount of greenery decreased but not by much.

"We're here!" Sonia said excitedly. Grey looked up towards the top of the tower in awe. Museum Tower's architect obviously didn't want anything too flashy because its design was fairly simple: A large, slightly curved rectangular tower with sixteen floors of history inside. The entire side facing them was window glass. Right in front was a sign with the name of the building as well as the year it was built and a luvdisc wishing fountain.

"Dude, it's huge! It'll take the whole day to go and see everything," Grey commented.

"Then we'll go up and start on the fourth floor with the rampardos; I hear it's one of the most interesting." The two of them plus Soul walked through the automatic doors and paid the receptionist for their tickets. After that, it was straight to the elevator and up to the fourth floor.

"Y'know, I wonder what kinds of legends the Silver Ring has," Grey said. "If anything, I'll bet they're a lot like Johto's."

"Wait," Sonia said, "you're not from the - ?" Her words were cut short by a loud explosion followed by a massive tremor that shook Museum Tower all the way through to its very core. The elevator rocked and rolled violently like a ship caught in a tropical storm, throwing its riders in every direction. Next, the screams of the museum patrons filled the air and even penetrated the confines of the metal box.

"What the hell?" Grey shouted as he rubbed the spot where his head hit the wall. Soul shakily got to his feet before tripping and falling into the elevator doors. "Please tell me this is just part of the museum."

"I don't think it is," Sonia said tensely. "We need to get out of this elevator now before the cable breaks or something. Quick, grab onto me!" Grey did as Sonia commanded and found that, despite the unbelievably tense situation he was in, he couldn't help but notice how nice Sonia smelled.

"Alakazam, get out here! Use Teleport!" Sonia commanded. Alakazam exploded out of his poké ball and teleported the four of them out of the elevator not a moment too soon. An instant later, the next sound to be heard was the empty elevator crashing thunderously to the bottom floor.

"Grey, you can let go of me now," Sonia deadpanned.

"Huh?" Grey looked down and realized he still had his arms wrapped around the girl. "Oh! Oops, sorry!"

"Don't look so flustered; you'll blend in with the crowd too much." The people were completely dumbfounded and made it very apparent though the looks on their faces and the nervous buzz of conversation. Mothers clung to their children while they cried and whimpered and nobody was at all interested in the rampardos anymore.

"What the hell's going on, Sonia?" Grey asked. He received no answer and Soul frantically pointed at the staircase leading up to the next floor. Sonia was rushing up it like her life depended on it, Alakazam hot on her heels.

"So I guess the date's over?" he said dumbly.

"Ladies and gentlemen, if I could have your attention please!" the large olive-skinned man boomed. He and the uniformed men behind him captured the attention of all in the room in an instant. He wore a white sleeveless muscle shirt with the same bird insignia James had seen on the military man and torn blue jeans. The man also sported a full, rugged beard/moustache combo and had oddly thin eyebrows. A pair of glasses rested lazily on his round nose and his hair was styled in short dreadlocks.

"Now, listen," he began. "I've got no beef with any of y'all here; this is strictly business. I can't have anyone remembering what's about to happen, though, so if you'd kindly take a few deep breaths, this'll be over 'fore ya know it."

"Okay, that's my cue to get the hell outta here!" Grey muttered anxiously. He stealthily wove his way in and out of the exhibits and used the crowd for cover as the man and his subordinates outfitted themselves with gas masks and took out small canisters.

Immediately, pandemonium broke out on the fourth floor. It was as if everybody there bar Grey shared a brain and immediately jumped to the worst possible conclusion: the canisters were full of poison gas. As one, the museum patrons charged forward in attempt to knock the olive-skinned man and his associates out of the way and get out with their lives. The man didn't back down.

He took two poké balls off his belt and lazily threw them at the stampeding crowd. A farfetch'd and yanma took the stage but their appearance did nothing to stop the chaos. What the man had in store next would, however.

"Yanma, Supersonic. Farfetch'd, use Feather Dance!" he barked. Yanma went in first, darting around in random directions while upping the speed at which his wings beat. The result was the air beginning to vibrate at a dangerous rate accompanied by an obnoxious high-frequency whistling. Grey's teeth literally started to shake in his skull and his ears felt like they were about to explode. Evidently the panicked crowd felt the same as they all were shielding their ears and gritting their teeth.

Next, Farfetch'd stepped up and started to twirl around while dislodging several of his feathers. Within a matter of seconds, feathers filled the air and obstructed everyone's vision, allowing the gas canisters to be tossed out. They started to release a pink cloud that filled up the airspace almost as quickly as Farfetch'd's Feather Dance. Those with weaker constitutions dropped unconscious in a second while the stronger ones took a bit longer to subdue.

Grey himself heard the hissing of the gas canisters and hurriedly stuffed Soul into his jacket while covering his own mouth and nose with his arm. He scrambled for the stairs and made it to them just as the cloud wafted its way over to him. A little drowsy from breathing in some of the knockout gas, Grey shook it off and pushed onwards and upwards, reaching the fifth floor in almost record time.

"Yo, Kestrel. Fourth floor's all subdued," the olive skinned man said into the mic clipped to his shirt. "But those gas charges were overkill. Seriously, I think every window on the tenth floor's been blown out. Plus, the elevator cable broke."

"Excellent job, Canard," Kestrel replied. "Your check's in the mail. On my way to the sixth floor as we speak and… Oh, hello, Daniel, I didn't know you were up…"

* * *

"Hey! Pasty face!" Danny shouted in rage. Kestrel raised an eyebrow and looked past the now-unconscious fifth floor patrons and workers to see none other than the honeymaker coming towards. To say Danny looked less than happy would be an understatement. The knockout canisters that Kestrel had thrown had pretty much exhausted themselves by now and the air was almost completely cleared of their effect. Grey sat in the corner near the staircase watching the event unfold.

"Is that… Is that Danny?" he whispered. Soul popped his head out through the front of his trainer's jacket and wondered the exact same thing.

"Oh, hello, Daniel, I didn't know you were up," Kestrel said as if he hadn't robbed the young man and shoved his unconscious body in a broom closet. Kestrel remembered the honey basket sitting on the table beside him and slid in front of it to block it from Danny's view. "What brings you here?"

"Don't act like you don't know, you son of a bitch! You robbed me and you owe me sixteen bucks for the honey!" Danny shouted, figuratively and literally pointing an accusatory finger at Kestrel. Kestrel shook his feathery, dirty blonde head and said,

"Actually, I emptied out three more jars so it's more like… Twenty-two, twenty-four… Around that general area. Now, if you'd please get outta my way, I've got something to do."

Kestrel started calmly strutting towards the stairs leading to the sixth floor on the other side of the floor, stepping over a few unconscious people as he did. Danny did not back down and went over to meet the man chest-to-chest.

"Listen to me, you pale faced jerk," he snarled. "Me and my pokémon worked our asses off to make that honey and I _demand_ you pay me for it or else!"

"Or else what?" Kestrel smirked sadistically. Danny said nothing and instead opted to take a step back and throw an angry punch at Kestrel's face. Kestrel's hand flew up like a shot and caught Danny an inch away from his nose.

"How did you - ?" Was all Danny could say before he took Kestrel's knee to the stomach. The strike winded him and made his eyes go inhumanly wide with pain before they were forced to close a second later when Kestrel delivered a punch to his jaw. Danny actually staggered back and bumped into the wall before sliding down it, holding his jaw.

Danny looked up, his vision bleary from that last punch, and tried to bring everything into focus. He saw Kestrel standing above him, bathed in the blue light of the fifth floor with a sadistic grin stretched across his face that showcased his pointed teeth. The light reflected off those teeth and gave them an ethereal and dangerous sheen while Kestrel's ice blue eyes gleamed like evil jewels. His skin looked even paler than usual; almost parchment white. It was like staring into the face of a demon.

"You know something, Daniel?" Kestrel chuckled. He delivered a brutal kick to the boy's stomach and continued as Danny fell over. "I don't think you know who you're dealing with. Well allow me to fill you in." Two more kicks to Danny's side led to a sickening crack.

"Ouch, that looked like it hurt," Kestrel laughed over Danny's screaming. A moment later, Danny became violently sick all over a poor woman's back. "And you've got a lot of guts by the look of that."

"You bastard…" Danny gurgled through the bile. Kestrel took out his wallet and dropped a few bills onto Danny's downed form.

"Funny, that's what my dear departed grandmamma used to say about me, too. Here's your money, now stay out of my way, maggot," he said with a derisive series of laughs. "Oh, and you can have your honey back." Kestrel then shoved his hands into his pockets and strode off like nothing happened, whistling a tune and a jaunty spring in his step.

"Finch, you find that tablet yet?"

"Yah, what of it?" Finch asked.

"Turn it into dust. I'm in a _good_ mood today," Kestrel said jauntily. He turned the corner up the stairs. Grey waited until he was sure Kestrel was on the upper floor before he sprinted to Danny's side, vaulting over the downed people like a pro.

"Danny!" He cried, careful of the pool of vomit. "Oh, ew, is that a bagel chunk…? Nevermind that; I saw what happened. Are you alright?" Soul hopped out of his jacket and placed a hand tenderly on Danny's forearm.

"Of course I'm not alright!" Danny roared. He immediately regretted doing so when the pain in his ribs flared up.

"Listen, I'll be back for you, dude. Just…hang tight or something. And don't move!"

"Char char!" Soul chirped before running after Grey. The two of them thumped up the stairs two at a time not even registering the fact that they were pursuing someone who had just made quick work of Danny and would most likely do the same to them.

At the same time, Sonia was already past Team Simurgh's target floor and making her way up to the eleventh floor: 'Mysteries of the Hoenn Region'. She didn't even bother to make herself seem scarce anymore since Kestrel had already put his plan into action. She didn't even _have _to; one girl running around within the mass panic present on every floor would go unnoticed anyway.

She pushed her way past the panicking throng and ended up getting thrown every which way like a rag doll before landing on her ass in front of a replica Kyogre. Just then, the heard the sound of the gas canisters hissing reached her ears and she dug a gas mask out of her bag as quickly as she could. She pulled her hair out of the way and hurriedly put it on just as the gas washed over the crowd and instantly did its job.

"That was anticlimactic," Sonia muttered. "Alakazam, I need you!" The Psi Pokémon appeared in a blue flash floating crosslegged in the air.

"Psychic this stuff outta here. I need a clear path." Alakazam nodded and started twirling his spoons around to build concentration. He summed softly under his breath and increased the volume steadily before he flung his arms out beside him. His Psychic attack swept all the gas in the room out to the sides, allowing Sonia to take her mask off and get a clear look at her opponent.

"Well now, who might you be, lass? Concerned citizen or somebody I should be wary of?" Finch asked in a friendly enough tone. He kept his scarlet hair swept and parted to the right and his fair skin had no marks on it bar a long thin scar on his left cheek. His brown eyes were soft and amiable and he dressed casually for a man of Team Simurgh. A black hooded jacket with a white t-shirt underneath and blue jeans. On his back was Team Simurgh's insignia and about ten grunts stood behind him awaiting orders.

"A little from here, a little from there," Sonia said flightily.

"Really now? The alakazam up there says otherwise. Oh, now where are me manners? Name's Finch." With a twirl of his hand, Finch bowed gallantly.

"My name is Sonia," the girl replied as she let out her Persian. "And I'm really sorry, but I'm gonna have to be taking something from here now. Hope you don't mind."

"Heheh… Well, now, Miss Sonia," Finch said with genuine regret, "I'm afraid I can't allow that. Have at it, boys."

"Alakazam, put the smoke back and make sure nobody gets hurt!" Sonia screamed as she put her gas mask back on.

"Kazam!" the psychic grunted. He brought his arms back together and the gas clouds followed suit, giving Sonia ample cover for a limited amount of time. Finch sighed and cursed under his breath before ordering his men to release their pokémon. Ten flashes of light produced ten different pokémon. Sonia pulled out yet another poké ball and released a flareon into the fray.

"Flareon, be a good boy and protect Alakazam with Persian while I go and get what we came for," Sonia instructed him. Flareon nodded dutifully and launched a Flamethrower into the face of an approaching ninjask. The cicada was torched and knocked out of the sky only for a machoke to take its place. Flareon growled and rammed into its gut with Headbutt while Sonia made a beeline for the east side of the exhibit.

The sounds of fighting fell on the unconscious ears of the few pedestrians. Persian yowled and roared as she went toe to toe with an opposing purugly and Alakazam had his hands full diverting a Hyper Beam attack from a kingler. With a loud grunt of mental effort, Alakazam directed the beam of condensed energy away from him and at an angle through the floor. Sonia ducked as a golbat sped by overhead and delivered a powerful kick to its trainers stomach. As that grunt staggered away, another and his toxicroak took their place. The man held a blade over his dead and toxicroak's forearm claws glowed a deadly purple in use of Poison Jab.

Sonia expertly grabbed the hand the man had the blade in and crushed it without mercy. The main howled in agony and clutched his broken hand which only exacerbated his pain. He grunted out for Toxicroak to finish its attack and the poison frog happily obliged. It leaped in the air over Sonia who only smirked confidently right before a psychic glow surrounded Toxicroak. The Poison Mouth Pokémon's mind was ruthlessly assaulted by Alakazam's five-thousand IQ before it was tossed aside like a limp noodle right into a Groudon replica.

"Nice, Alakazam!" she cheered. "Now Psychic them all outta my way!" Alakazam gave another nod and a grunt and easily spread his mental influence over the entire tenth floor. He kept everyone in place while Sonia finished her mad dash over to the Golems Exhibit. Ignoring all the other scenery, Sonia focused only on the massive stone tablet before her that was being illuminated by base-mounted spotlights and guarded by an obvious laser tripwire and a Plexiglas casing. All across the surface of the tablet were odd bumps that reminded Sonia of Braille. Although majestic in its own odd way, Sonia didn't have time to gawk at the rock slab and set to work.

"Flareon, Persian, back into battle positions! Alakazam, knock them down and redirect focus. Psychic these security measures out of existence," Sonia said dangerously.

Alakazam forced all of Sonia's enemies down to the ground with his formidable brain just long enough for him to redirect all of his focus on the security measures around the tablet. With not even so much as a thought, Alakazam shattered the Plexiglas casing and crushed the laser generators like they were dirt clods. Sonia then took out an empty item ball and tossed it at the tablet like she was catching a pokémon. The tablet was then engulfed in scarlet light and sucked into the ball which Sonia proceeded to pocket.

"Okay, okay, I admit you've got skill, lass," Finch growled in annoyance as he took off his gas mask. From out of the dispersing smoke, a dodrio with its three faces set into a murderous mask trotted up to him. "But, seriously now, I just realized who you're workin' for if yer after seein' ya take that thing."

"Really? How?" Sonia asked. A flash of fire from across the room followed by a pokémon's agonized scream signaled Flareon was hard at work. "And how're you going to do that?"

"Dodrio, Tri-Attack her," Finch commanded. Dodrio's three heads screeched and arranged themselves into a triangle and charged up an energy field between themselves. Just as the demon tri-bird was about to release its attack, Alakazam intervened and teleported in front of it, fist crackling with electricity. Alakazam ThunderPunched the middle head and ended up disorienting all three when the electricity spread.

"Crap! _How_ did I forget abou' the goddamned Alakazam!" Finch berated himself.

"Because you're an idiot!" Sonia jeered. "Persian, Hyper Beam!"

"PaaaaaaaNYA!" Persian screeched as she charged and fired her doom blast at the wall. Finch cursed loudly and leapt backwards with Dodrio. Hyper Beam blasted a hole clear through the museum wall big enough for Sonia's entire party to jump through. Dust and debris flew everywhere after the explosion and Finch was ready to kick himself for not keeping his mask on. Flareon and Persian rushed right over to Sonia's side and she called them back after thanking them for a job well done. Alakazam was next to go back into his ball and was replaced by Staraptor. The predatory bird spread his wings as Sonia jumped onto his back and took off at once.

"Son of a bitch…" Finch muttered angrily. "Pidgeot, Whirlwind." The sound of a poké ball opening was heard and Finch's pidgeot blew away the dust with his powerful wings. In a few seconds, the air was clear.

"Well, that was embarrassin'… Everybody alright?" A chorus of groans, coughs and whining gave him his answer.

"Ouch," he chuckled. "Guess not."

"She broke my friggin' hand…"

"Oh, walk it off, John, ya pansy!" Finch laughed.

* * *

"That's it, out the fire escape," Kestrel said in boredom as he had his two birds marshal those who were still conscious out of the sixth floor. The people screamed and paid no attention to their fellow man as they quickly adopted the 'Every man for himself' rule. Within a minute, the room was empty of all those conscious with about five unconscious littering the ground like discarded pieces of paper.

"Hunh… So Finch wasn't lying. Groudon really _is_ as old as the planet," Kestrel mused to his pokémon. He moved away from the second replica Groudon (this one depicted as just having woken up from the fiery, molten maw of Mt. Chimney) and moved onto the Legendary Bird area a little ways away. This part of the sixth floor had three replicas of each of the birds, Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres, with their own little information blurbs on the panels below.

"You know, it's peculiar, Honchkrow, - oops, sorry, ma'am," Kestrel said to his Big Boss Pokémon. He bowed respectfully to the sleeping woman for knocking her with his shoe and continued.

"The three birds exist in harmony and yet need a fourth bird to control them. They've only appeared sporadically throughout history and nobody has ever figured out exactly how to track them down. That is, until me, of course."

"Krrrrow…" the Dark-type trilled. Kestrel approached the center booth, the one with the Articuno statue above it. Contained in yet another Plexiglas box was a Mystic Water, a seemingly uninteresting item. Nevertheless, Kestrel gave a victorious smirk and nodded to Honchkrow.

"Be gentle, girl," he instructed. Honchkrow nodded and stuck her pristine and glossy wing out above the container.

"Steel Wing." Honchkrow's wing became harder than the alloy her move was named after and she chopped the box with just a little under all of her strength. The box sustained a hairline fracture that quickly spider-webbed its way across the entire front. Kestrel gave the cracked face a gentle prod with his finger and it completely crumbled. With a satisfied smile, Kestrel reached into the broken remains of the box and took out the Mystic Water, relishing in the feel of its cold surface against his palm.

_That was much easier than expected,_ Fearow commented haughtily with a ruffle of his feathers.

"If you're talking about how easy this was, I can't say I disagree, Fearow. I almost kind of wish something were here to spice things up a bit," Kestrel commented.

"Hey, you!" Kestrel broke out in a grin. Grey ran up the stairs and past the hundred-foot-tall Rayquaza replica in the center of the massive room, nearly tripping over the figure of a downed man. Fearow and Honchkrow let their curiosity take control and turned around to see who'd come in. They almost didn't see Grey as their attention was immediately grabbed by the Lake Trio booth on the other side of him. As one, they damned their ability to see in and be distracted by such vibrant color.

"Ask and thy shall receive!" he laughed. He turned to face Grey, the boy's face set in a determined glare and his charmander doing the same. "And who're you exactly, kid?"

"Like you need to know," Grey spat. "Just who the hell do you think _you_ are to be doing something crazy like this? D'you know how many innocent people got hurt?"

"Oh, here it is: the righteous hero-babble that is so clichéd on TV. Never thought I'd actually hear it in reality," Kestrel muttered to himself.

"Answer the question!" Grey demanded.

"Well, if you must know, then one innocent person got harmed here and that was Daniel. Though he _was_ asking for it," Kestrel answered.

"Yeah, I saw that," Grey growled. "Put back whatever it is you stole 'n we can end this without anyone getting hurt." Kestrel wasted no time and immediately flew into a gale of mad laughter.

"That's _rich,_ kid! Truly rich! You think you can take me on with just a friggin' charmander? You alright in the head?" Kestrel's laughter continued much to the anger and annoyance of Grey; even Fearow and Honchkrow were joining in on it. Kestrel finished his fit and deposited the Mystic Water inside his coat pocket before pointing one ghostly pale finger at the boy.

"Let me show you what a_ real_ trainer can do. Dark Pulse!" Kestrel barked. Honchkrow took to the skies and conjured a swirling orb of dark rings in front of her beak. The rings streaked towards Grey and Soul like a beam arrow but only met the empty ground when they dove out of the way. Soul tucked, rolled, and threw together a hasty Ember attack that was pitched at Honchkrow's bosom. Fearow slid in and batted the weak-by-comparison attack away with just one wing.

"Keep up Dark Pulse on the boy, Honchkrow, and Fearow, you use your Fury Attack on the lizard," Kestrel commanded. Fearow let out a proud and regal caw and was up close to Soul with one beat of his impressive wings. Using the sides of his beak, he repeatedly and adeptly slammed Soul's tiny body.

At the same time, Honchkrow was taking great pleasure in shooting off Dark Pulse after Dark Pulse at Grey's fleeing form. Grey would duck behind a wall and Honchkrow would bust a hole through it; he would try and run but Honchkrow only sped up her attacks and forced him to jump, duck, and lean away from the blasts of negative energy. One particularly nasty blast completely decimated the area Grey was about to stand on, added even more debris to the air, and threw Grey into the Lake Trio exhibit.

"This is getting us nowhere," Grey growled as he dug himself out of the wreckage. "Okay, then we'll get physical. Soul, Dragon Rage on Honchkrow then use Aerial Ace!"

Just as Honchkrow was about to loose another energy blast, Soul's rage-fuelled draconic attack impacted her right in the chest. Proud of his improved aim, Soul took the chance to use Aerial Ace; he pushed forward then up and reveled in the feeling of having split the wind. His attack hit home and struck Honchkrow's left wing hard, taking away her aerial balance.

"Nice, Soul!" Grey cried as he ducked under Fearow's incoming Drill Peck and watched as the spiraling attack totally splintered the ground he was once standing on. As Grey shielded his face from the spray of sheet rock and splintered floor boards, he counted himself and the downed pedestrians lucky. So far, nobody had been seriously hurt.

"_How in the hell did I get myself mixed into this?"_ Grey thought disbelievingly. He dove under Fearow's Drill Peck attack once more and found himself immensely thankful that he was as fast as he was. Fearow busted through and out of a window while Kestrel stood by with his hands in his pockets, laughing his head off at the boy's peril. He didn't even break his stream of laugher for a second even when Soul pitched a fireball at his head. Kestrel sidestepped it and watched with glee as it caused one of the lightning fixtures overhead to explode in a shower of sparks and broken glass.

"I'll admit that was a nice hit you landed on Honchkrow," Kestrel said as he gingerly felt the bird's injured wing before recalling her, "but do you honestly call that an Aerial Ace? Let me give you a better demonstration!" Kestrel cried. He threw his arm out and bellowed, "Fearow, Aerial Ace attack!"

Fearow pushed himself higher into the air with just one pump of his wings and dove back down with another. Right away, his needle-like beak split the air and the currents became sharp as knives as he came down.

"Soul, focus on the Fearow! Fire Fang!" Grey shouted. Soul stood his ground and waited for Fearow get close enough for him to jump over him and fill his jaws with fire. Fearow was not about to let himself be bitten and shattered yet another window with yet another pump of his mighty wings. He veered back inside through another random window with another burst of remarkable speed and crashed into Soul. Fearow's long, spear-like beak cut a path of blood across Soul's stomach before a wing strike sent the fire lizard to the floor. The air currents came next, slicing into Soul's body like a hundred knives. Soul's mouth opened in a silent scream. Blood droplets flew into the air.

"NO!" Grey roared. Without any further thoughts of his own safety, he rushed in and tackled Fearow away just as he landed, about to use Fury Attack on Soul's downed form. Next, Grey actually punched the bird in the chest before picking up his partner and examining his wound.

"Cha-aaar…." the baby salamander groaned weakly. Soul defied his pain and got right back up, wincing as he did, while Grey fixed Kestrel with a debilitating, rage-filled glare. At the same time, he wondered again exactly how he got himself into this mess.

"Actually attacking Fearow to save the life of your pokémon? Now, that, my young friend is admirable; bravo," drawled Kestrel. He clapped slowly and deliberately just to watch the look of rage and helplessness grow on Grey's face. "For that, I think I'm going to spare you the beating I gave Daniel."

"You think Soul was my only pokémon?" Grey snarled, the rage completely clouding his judgment. He cradled the charmander in his arm and reached for yet another poké ball. "Maverick, let's -"

"Grey!" Sonia cried from outside the window. Both Kestrel and Grey turned towards her voice, Grey in surprise and Kestrel in confusion. Sonia was standing atop Staraptor's back just outside the window. "Grey, come on, let's get out of here!"

"What a magnificent Staraptor," Kestrel commented vaguely. He turned to Grey and said, "Look, as much as it's been fun to thoroughly thrash you, I really must be going now. Finch, Sparrow, Canard, we're leaving," he spoke into his lapel mic.

"Wait, you can't just leave!" Grey roared. "Get back here and finish this!"

"I can't just leave? Tell that to my ass as its flying away," Kestrel said rudely. He took a hold of Fearow's leg and told the bird to fly out of one of the holes it made. Fearow instead chose to just speed out through another window for no apparent reason.

"Grey, are you okay?" Sonia asked? She hopped through the window and approached him cautiously, aware of the tiny orange bundle in his arms. "What happ- oh, my gosh!"

"Soul…" Grey muttered. "I'm sorry, bud."

_That's okay… You've done some stupid stuff before, right?_ the fire lizard said weakly.

"Come on, we need to get him to the Pokémon Centre," Sonia said. The sound of police and ambulance sirens followed her words. "Like, now! Come on. I'll take you back on Staraptor."

* * *

A few hours later and Grey was sitting in the Centre off to the side while waiting for his aunt to come back out with Soul's poké ball. The normally dark pink walls of the center adopted the colors of shadow and orange in the afternoon light and gave the place a strangely calm atmosphere. Grey other three pokémon were waiting outside in the afternoon sun and Rachel, June, and James had come back from the Gym about a ten minutes before he returned. He'd told them everything that happened to him that day: meeting Sonia, the trip to Museum Tower and the raid where, surprisingly enough, nobody was killed. Danny was seriously injured with two broken ribs but Grey could care less about that. Sonia had stuck around and was in the infirmary with Nurse Joy. Right now, June sat next to him, rubbing his back comfortingly while James leaned against the wall offering silent support. Rachel, however, was not as tender.

"You are the absolute _biggest_ idiot I've ever met in my life! Didn't you think it was funny at all that a random girl came up to you and asked you to go somewhere with her? Did that not send up a giant red flag in your head?" she screeched at her little brother. Grey didn't respond.

"Rachel, lay off; you're causing a scene," James said quietly. As much as he respected Rachel, even James wasn't oblivious to her moments of irritancy.

"I'm not gonna lay off him! How stupid is he to go looking for a fight with someone who easily took care of Danny? And that's another point I want to bring up: Danny's in the hospital because of you!" Rachel shouted. The other trainers in the Pokémon Centre were doing their best to tune the pink-haired girl out but most were failing. Instead, they silently filed out the back door into the two-acre until the lobby was empty.

"How is it _his_ fault?" June shouted back indignantly. "Danny went looking for confrontation with the man because he was not properly compensated and he was robbed! Grey did not tell him to go and fight him!"

"Rachel, just _shut up_," Grey said. Nurse Joy told him Soul would be just fine (he realized just how easily Kestrel had gone on him after that) so he wasn't worried about his partner. He was, however, ready to kick himself that he'd been made a fool of so easily and endangered Soul in the process. Grey would get over it and move on but Rachel was just needlessly exacerbating things.

"I don't need you preachin' to me about how stupid I was. I figured that out a when Soul got hurt and I'm gonna get stronger so shut up," Grey commanded.

"Now you listen to me, Grey Isaac Thomas," Rachel began furiously. But Grey had had enough by then.

"I said shut up!" he roared, leaping to his feet. "They were trying to steal something from the museum and I was trying to stop them! I may've bitten off more than I could chew but_ you're _the one," he pointed a finger at her, "who's always telling me to help people when they need it!"

"Grey…" June whimpered. Jameson sighed.

"I'm sick and tired of you always telling me what to do! If you're gonna follow me, fine, but could you please just stop talking for now?" A potent silence hung in the air after that. Rachel, taken aback at her brother's outburst, took a seat on the opposite side of the room near the vid-phones. She didn't speak a word; she just glared at Grey with her arms crossed. June went back to comforting Grey and James stayed silent so as not to cause more conflict.

"Um… Excuse me," Sonia said. All attention was immediately focused on her as she and Nurse Joy entered the room from behind the front counter . "I hate to interrupt and I know this is really awkward, but…"

"But?" Grey grunted. Sonia held out a poké ball.

"Soul's all better now," Nurse Joy said. Grey leapt to his feet again and graciously accepted Soul's ball from Sonia. He immediately let his partner out and as soon as he was materialized, pulled him into a big hug.

"Soul! Oh, man, you're alright!" he cried happily, all former anger forgotten.

"Char char!" Soul responded and returned the hug. Grey released the charmander and he flexed his tiny muscles to show that he was completely recovered. There weren't even any scars left from Fearow's attack.

"Aunt Joy, thank you so much," Grey said sincerely.

"Amazing. Not a scratch on him," James noted.

"Of course," Nurse Joy said with a hint of pride. "Your charmander should be all better now but I think you should let him rest a bit before any more training. The wounds were superficial but they still did some damage."

"Char!" Soul shouted in protest. Everyone looked at him curiously and he shook his head at Nurse Joy. "Char char! Charmander!" He flexed again and brandished his claws proudly.

"I think Soul is saying that he is all set to go and train now," June translated.

"Are you sure you're up for it?" Sonia asked Soul. "It looked like you were pretty hurt back there." Soul shook his head again and surprised everyone by beginning to shine once more. Grey took a step back out of surprise and James and June leaned forward to get a better look. Only Rachel was uninterested in the event.

"Mander?"_ Again?_ Soul breathed. The glow stopped once again.

"Soul, you know what this means?" Grey asked excitedly. "It means you're gonna become a charmeleon! This is awesome! Come on; lets get training!" Soul nodded eagerly.

Grey took off towards the exit to the two-acre and made a beeline for the training zone, leaving the semi-awkward situation behind him. He decided that he wasn't going to think about what happened today anymore. His main concern now was going up against Kory and figuring out which pokémon he was going to use and he would need all the training he could get.

Back in the Centre, Sonia bid everybody goodbye and walked out the automatic doors. Rachel glowered at her back the whole time until she left before getting up and leaving herself.

"Where are you going?" June asked innocently.

"To see Danny in the hospital," Rachel answered curtly. June winced at Rachel's uncharacteristic waspishness and looked up at Nurse Joy.

"If you do not mind my asking, were Grey and Rachel always so different?" she asked. Nurse Joy shrugged.

"Honestly, I wouldn't know. Sara only told me about certain things; she never mentioned such intense sibling rivalry."

"Well, whatever their problems, they better hurry up and resolve them," James said. He cast a look at Rachel just as the Centre doors slid open. "Before one of them says something they'll regret."

* * *

**Finally! It is done! And I'm really loving the review count, guys! This chapter's a bit shorter than the two or three preceding it but that's alright. Still at a decent length. Loving the review count so far! :D**

**Thanks to Ray El Rojo Amigo, Lolli-S and alteris for sending in their OCs and especially to Lolli for my Challenger thread. You guys rock!**

**And now, post chapter notes. Kestrel was looking for a Mystic Water? Dude, you can find those things anywhere; why steal one from a museum? Obviously its got some value, but still…**

**Grey is living proof on how powerful an influence hormones are on the adolescent human male. To completely forgo all suspicion just because of a pretty face that knows how to flirt? Grey, you disappoint me.**

**Anyone catch the Star Wars reference?**

**And Kestrel showcases both his sadism and considerable skill as a Pokémon Trainer. You can bet we're gonna see a lot more of him. And, by the way, that stone tablet that Otto had Sonia steal? Important plot point. I'm just sayin'.**

**And it looks like Grey grew up a bit here and our favorite fire breathing baby salamander is close to evolving! Oh, glorious day!**

**You guys know the drill: R&R and then head over to Lolli-S's forums for discussion! I love you all :D**

**CHAPTER PREVIEW**

**Grey: **Okay, so now that I've put that behind me, it's time to do what I came her to do in the first place: Challenge Kory! It's gonna be one hell of a battle and we better give it my all if we wanna win!

**Soul: **Char char!

**James:** I'm expecting you to win, Grey. I can't call you my rival if you lose your first match to a Gym Leader twice in a row.

**June: **Stop trying to psyche him out; I am sure Grey will be fine and, um, kick some ass.

**Grey: **Whoa, June, never heard you say that before. Nice change of pace.

**June: **Just like how this chapter was. There was not much battling here but there was a lot of action and it focused more on what Team Simurgh was doing.

**Grey:** My Ranger skills and Sonia's strength came out in full, not to mention that Kestrel guy's. But enough about that, let's tell 'em what's happenin' next, everyone!

**All: **Next time on _Challenger!:_ Soul's Soul on Fire: VS Leader Kory II!

**Grey: **We're winning for sure. Count on it!


	14. VS Leader Kory II

**I am really loving how things in the story are going right now. I've got the story mapped out at around 67% completion (ran into a few problems but its nothing I can't handle. The problems don't appear until after Grey's earned his sixth badge and in the Silver Ring, six badges means you're only halfway done. By that point, only three of his pokémon will be fully evolved and we'll have had super-special-awesome adventures!**

**BUUUUT anyway… A lot of tension brewing since the raid Team Simurgh carried out at Museum Tower. Specifically, it's between Grey and Rachel. Since I already know what's going to happen between then, I can honestly say it is not pretty; not one bit. But you guys are just going to have to wait and see for yourselves. And now, without further ado, the Gym Battle you've all been waiting for (or at least Shadow Minamoto has xD): Grey of Puel Town VS Kory of Mélange Town!**

**Disclaimer: **See disclaimer from chapter 12. Still waiting on that pie, Travis!

KEY:

"normal speech"

"_thought"_

_translated pokémon speech_

"blah blah blah _emphasis _blah blah blah"

**Pokédex Entries**

* * *

**Chapter 14: **Soul's Soul on Fire: VS Leader Kory II

Grey spent the three days after the raid at Museum Tower training vigorously for his match against Kory. Soul had improved his performance at Aerial Ace but there was still much work to do before the move was completely mastered. On the bright side, Will-O-Wisp proved to be a much easier move for the little salamander to learn and it was all but mastered by now. June had made some good progress in her research at the library and had borrowed Grey's Pokédex to help her get aquainted with her new nidoran. She'd said that Maverick would now be her focal point on how regional soil composition affected the Rock-types that lived there and had sounded very excited about it.

As for Jameson, he was taking a good long rest while getting in some light training. Since his acquisition of the Combat Badge, he hadn't stopped polishing it. But despite the good progress made by everyone, the Thomas siblings hadn't said one word to each other since that day.

Rachel would busy herself in her work by taking on low-level missions out in the grasslands and Grey would keep up his usual routine of train, rest, eat, and repeat. In the rare event the two of them were in the same room together, the silence was pregnant, thick, suffocating and cold. It was all Jameson could do not to forcibly bash their heads together and for June not to break down crying. The redhead could never stand things like this too well, especially not siblings at odds with each other.

It was the same the day of Grey's Gym Battle. He was prepared, he had his team picked out, and he was focused on his goal. But that didn't stop him from glaring Razor Fangs at his older sister from over the rim of his cereal bowl. Next to him in their booth, Jameson pressed his fingers to his temples and sighed heavily; this was getting ridiculous. It was a wonder to him how the two of them hadn't reverted to their toddler days and started punching each other.

Rachel sat next to June on the other side of the table and was pointedly ignoring her brother's gaze. Why feed the flames, she reasoned. Grey was just being the immature little brat he'd always been and would always be.

"_If he wants to waste his time with this pokémon trainer crap, fine,"_ she mentally spat. _"But he can't say anything about me sticking around. Even if neither of us likes it, I'm still responsible for him."_

"Okay, that's enough," Jameson growled. He paused, looked around and thanked the gods that the meal area was clear of people; everyone else was in the main lobby, some twenty feet away. "You two are brother and sister and you're acting like that's not even true. Rachel, you're being really insensitive towards your brother and Grey -"

"What?" Grey cut in curtly, never breaking his gaze at his sister. "You wanna tell me that I'm being a stupid little kid and that I never shoulda run away from home in the first place?" June flinched a little at the sharp tone of his voice.

"No, that's not what I was going to say, you idiot," Jameson said hotly. "I was going to say that, for once, you're in the right in this situation. But do you have to be so petulant about it?"

"Jameson, who are you to even be butting into this anyway?" Rachel asked. "It's none of your business."

"It is when you constantly complain to me about your brother," Jameson retorted. Rachel tensed up in indignation and opened her mouth to speak but James beat her to it. "Come on, you two; can't you just make up?"

"As if!" Grey snorted. He downed the last dregs of milk and corn flakes in his bowl before going on. "Not after what I just heard. You honestly had to go and complain to Jimmy, sis?" he asked with a snide smirk and tone. Rachel rose from her seat and slammed her hands on the table furiously, finally returning her brother's glare full force. June flinched again and Jameson ground his teeth in annoyance.

"Maybe I wouldn't _have_ to go and talk to Jameson if you weren't so thickheaded!" she spat. Grey didn't back down and slammed his own hands down in challenge. If Rachel wanted a fight then, by Arceus, Grey would give her one. Juniper flinched a third time.

"Hey, shut up! I never even asked for you to come with me so why're you here?" Grey shot back.

"Watching out for your ass and keeping it out of trouble!"

"I don't need your help; I've got five years of training on my side and four pokémon! Ten year olds do this and come out just fine! Leave me alone, Rachel." Something within the pinkette snapped like a twig at that.

"You listen to me, Grey Isaac Thomas! When Dad's not around, Mom is in charge of you. When neither are around, I'm the one who has to take care of your bratty ass whether you like it or not so don't you _dare_ tell me to leave you alone!" Grey opened his mouth to shout something back at her but June had had about all she could take.

"Stop it!" June pleaded, her eyes screwed shut. All attention was now on her. She was caught off guard by the sudden shift but she shook her head and moved past that.

"Jameson is right; you two are siblings! You grew up together! Why should you have to fight like this? It is…stupid!" June looked between the two siblings and the tension in the room skyrocketed when Grey and Rachel locked eyes. For a few seconds, June's heart soared when she thought they'd reconcile but it was just not meant to be.

"'Grew up together', huh?" Rachel mused. She scoffed and turned her eyes away from her little brother. She abandoned her scrambled eggs without a second thought and left the booth still fuming. "Why don't you tell that to Grey?"

"Where're you going?" the younger sibling asked.

"To visit Danny in the hospital!" Rachel shouted without looking back.

"I guess she will not be watching your Gym Battle, Grey," June said in a small voice. "I am sorry…"

"For what?" Grey shrugged. "It's no biggie, June. She can do whatever she wants; I'm not gonna let it get to me."

"Are you serious?" asked James, a humorless laugh lacing his words. "She's your big sister, Grey. Your _only_ sister. Do you honestly not care?"

"Do not say that, James. Grey cares," June reassured. Grey now subjected Jameson to his glare. If anything, James was the more mature one between the two boys but did he really hold that bad of an opinion of Grey?

"Look," he began sternly, "Rachel _is_ my sister and I love her. But she's just so…self-righteous sometimes, it just makes me wanna snap at her." Jameson said nothing but Grey could tell he'd seen his point.

"Besides, she's a big girl. She'll get over this," Grey said assuredly.

"Yeah," James submitted with a sigh, "I guess you're right." June stood up and clapped her hands together, looking much better than she had been a moment ago. She smiled and said,

"So does that mean everything will be alright?" The boys knew it would definitely take much more than that for everything to be right again but, in a silent mutual agreement, James and Grey decided Juniper's enthusiasm was too cute to refute. Grey picked up his bowl and placed it on top of the trash receptacle. Stretching out his back and sighing when he felt a vertebrae pop, Grey grinned and said,

"'Course it will, June. Now c'mon; sister or not, I'm taking on Kory and I'm gonna win!" He led the way out of the dining area, into the lobby, and out the Centre door into the sunshine of a Mélange Town morning. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, the sun shone brightly, and a cooling breeze would flow by every few minutes. It was the picture of peaceful, and Grey would be damned if he didn't shatter it with a long and raucous pokémon battle.

* * *

Terry and Darrel sat next to one another in Otto's dimly lit office with the latter shaking in his combat boots. Nobody - but _nobody -_ got called into the big boss's room unless they either royally screwed up or Otto had a big mission in mind for them. With the two of them being who they were, chances are it was going to be the second thing. Having had enough of sitting there like a lump, the curly black-haired Terry stood up and started to explore.

"Terry, what the hell are you doing?" Darrel frantically hissed. "We were told to sit here and wait for Otto not traipse around his office! Do you want to get eaten by his Tyranitar?"

"Relax, Darry. I'm not doin' nothin'," Terry replied aloofly as he tapped the carvhanna tank in interest. Immediately, the flesh-eating fish pokémon flocked to the point where his finger was and snapped their jaws hungrily. It got ugly fast; one carvhanna accidentally sunk his teeth into the fin of another and ripped it off. A plume of blood bloomed a dark red in the water and that poor carvhanna's brethren quickly cannibalized him. Nothing was left of it when the feeding frenzy ended; not even a bone fragment.

"Whoa…" Terry breathed, both shocked and amazed. "Darry, didja see that? They freakin' ate one of their own! Talk about dog eat dog," he laughed.

"Ugh, how is that funny?" Darry asked in disgust. He pushed a lock of his long brown hair behind his ear. "I hate the sight of blood…"

"Then yer in the wrong profession, mate. Ya shoulda been a teacher or somthin'," Terry suggested jokingly. He knew his best friend's desire to get away from Team Regal and be a teacher somewhere. Too bad that once you were a grunt, you either advanced in the ranks, stayed a grunt, died, or tried to quit and _then_ died. Honestly, none of the options were appealing but staying a grunt meant staying alive longer.

"Shut up, Terry," Darry muttered, his round face slowly turning red. Deciding to switch gears, he asked, "What do you think Otto called us here for?"

"Knowin' our luck," Terry huffed, "pro'ly to harass us about how 'big a pair of idiot failures' we are 'nd how we should just go 'head and come outta the closet already. Damn 'im to hell, I _got_ a girlfriend!" Terry kicked the ground in frustration and turned his back on the fish tank. Always the pessimistic one, Darry gave a silent nod of agreement. Terry threw his hands in the air and continued,

"I tell ya, bud, we gotta start earnin' some respect 'round here! Otherwise, shit like this is gonna keep on happenin' and that don't fly with me!" He crossed his arms in an X shape and shook his head vigorously.

"Yeah, but what can a couple of grunts do to gain respect in an organization like this one?" Darry asked gloomily. "And sit down before -"

"Before _what?_" cut in Otto's baritone. The blood in both grunts' veins ran cold as an Ice-type's and steadily approached subzero with each step Otto took into his office. As usual, Skuntank was right by his side slinking in and out of his legs as he walked. Otto silently took a seat behind his desk, laced his fingers together and stared at Terry expectantly over them. The curly-headed man was back in his seat in a flash.

Unhappy with the darkness, Skuntank jumped up and grabbed the chord to raise the blind and let the sun in. Darry suppressed a smile at the warmth he felt on his face; Terry squinted his eyes and made a face, annoyed at the bright light.

"Thank you, Skuntank. Now, about why you're here…" Otto rumbled.

"L-Listen, boss! That there flood in the sixth barracks wasn't us; I swear! It was that new guy, Simpson, the crafty little bastard!" Terry raved, trying to clear himself of all possible blame before Otto could continue.

"Yeah, and we didn't let all the pokémon out of their pens, either!" Darry followed up.

"Will the both of you shut up!" Otto roared. Terry and Darry literally slapped their hands over their mouths. "Dear Arceus; you two are like preschoolers! And you aren't in trouble but I'll be keeping an eye on you after that bout of verbal diarrhea."

"Damn it," Terry cursed under his breath.

"Th-then why are we here?" asked Darry. "Boss?" he hurriedly added.

"Quinn's gone AWOL," Otto said in a simple and highly enraged tone which Skuntank matched with his growling. Darry shivered in his seat but Terry showed no outward signs of fear.

"Really?" Terry asked with honest interest. "I thought she was top dog in this division, boss."

"She was. But, after the mission we sent her on, she mailed the tablet to us in an item ball, collected her money and apparently fell of the goddamned map! Last I heard, she was in Mélange Town…"

"Well, what're we s'pposed to do 'bout that?" Terry flippantly asked. A growl from Otto immediately made him apologize.

"What the _hell_ do you think, you rube? Go after her and bring her back here for corporal punishment!" Skuntank hissed and yowled after his master's words and slinked away under the desk. At the mention of corporal punishment, Darry winced. The black eye he'd gotten from their previous failure had barely healed. Terry had said it made his baby blues look black and blue, an admittedly unfunny joke.

"If she was in Mélange Town last time, then she's headed for Springbloom next. Wasn't she a trainer on the side?" Darry asked. Otto gave a grunt and a nod.

"But, boss, she's way stronger'n us, ya know. Darry 'n me only got one pokémon each," Terry said.

"And that's why part of your mission is to get _stronger_," Otto growled with much emphasis on the last word. "Quinn could easily kill you though she'd prefer not to. She always was soft."

"'Cuz that just makes me feel a lot better about this," Terry muttered. "Okay, fine, we'll do it."

"As if you had a choice," Otto snorted violently. "You have five months. Either you find her and bring her back or you'll be kicked out of the organization. Understand?" Of course the two of them understood. Getting 'kicked out' of the organization meant you were going to leave both Team Regal and the world of the living.

"Yes, sir!" The duo saluted. As they stood up to leave, Otto suddenly remembered something else he wanted them to do and stopped them with a clearing of his throat.

"One more thing. You said that the last time you failed, you were bested by children, correct?"

"Ya don't have to put it so bluntly, but yeah," Terry mumbled in embarrassment.

"What's that got to do with the mission?" Darry inquired.

"The next time you run into that child with the charmander and he gets in your way - which might happen assuming that child is a typical trainer - ..." Terry and Darry didn't like the grim tone Otto's voice had taken. Both of them had already jumped to the worst case scenario and braced themselves for the inevitable order.

"Kill him." Darry flinched and said,

"But, boss, he's just a kid! He was defending himself last time and we _did_ challenge him!"

"Fine! At least incapacitate him and show him what may happen if he crosses our paths once more. That is all. You're dismissed!" Skuntank came back out from under the desk and yowled at the duo again. It seemed to be finding fun in that and in the Terrified looks on Terry's face. Terry was out of the room and running down the hallway a second and a half after Skuntank's yowl and Darry moved at a pace between walking and running.

Otto sighed heavily and rubbed his temples in exasperation. Feeling his blood pressure rise and a searing migraine coming on, he opened the top drawer on his desk and produced a bottle of aspirin. Their meeting was short and uneventful but Terry and Darry _never_ ceased to get on Otto's nerves.

"Skuntank," he said to his faithful companion. He popped two aspirin into his mouth and swallowed.

"Rrroaw?"

"This is going to sound horribly clichéd, but it really is hard to find good help these days."

* * *

Grey steadied himself through a few deep breaths. He kept reminding himself: If he wasn't focused, he'd get swamped by adrenaline. If that happened, he'd lose his head and the battle and losing to a Gym Leader on the first try twice in a row was something he would_ not_ let mar his record as a trainer. This battle had to be a victory no matter what. Otherwise, Grey would never hear the end of it from Soul on top of being told to quit again by his sister. …His sister…

"Uh-uh!" Grey grunted as he shook his head free of any thoughts of Rachel.

"Are you alright?" June asked. She gave a him an odd but concerned look. "Pre-battle jitters?"

"Who? Me?" Grey asked in mock incredulity. "Never. Just tryin' to focus is all."

"Are we going to stand here all day or are we going to get this Gym Battle over with?" James impatiently asked. Grey raised an eyebrow at James but decided to shrug and ignore him. The automatic doors slid open and the group was met with a blast of cool air when they entered the Gym. Like before, Fiona was sitting at the front desk, this time reading a magazine in boredom. She looked up at them and her face immediately brightened. Finally; some entertainment.

"Hey! You guys are late, you know. Kory was getting antsy," she said with a laugh. Grey gave a sheepish grin and rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah… There was somethin' that got in my way and I had to push trainin' and the Gym Battle back a bit further. Sorry 'bout that," he apologized.

"S'alright; 'better late than never' I always say," Fiona said cheerily. "Now, come on. Wait any longer and Kory might have to punch the wall." She led them towards the back again and into the studio. Unlike last time, it was occupied by about twenty students in gis with Kory leading the exercise.

"Okay, now repeat after me. Punch, punch, high kick, low kick, roundhouse, reverse roundhouse!" Kory called out while he acted on his words. His class perfectly mirrored his assault.

"Dude, sick!" Grey cheered. "I mean, I'm fast and can jump, but I can't do anything like that."

"Impressive," was all James had to say.

"More than impressive; phenomenal!" June cried. "If only he were training Fighting-types right now…"

"Yep, that's my brother. He talks a big game but he can back up his words no sweat."

"Good job, everyone." Noticing Grey, he added, "Callin' it quits for today." His students bowed and shouted a chorus of,

"Yes, sensei!" before dispersing to collect their belongings and leave. Kory personally beckoned Grey towards the back door of the studio and to the battlefield.

"Oh, right!" Kory shouted over his shoulder. "This guy," he said and pointed to Grey, "wants to challenge me to a Gym Battle. You guys wanna watch, you know where to show up." Leaving that offer on the table, Kory left the studio and took his place at the Gym Leader's trainer box.

"Man, you almost had me worried," Kory said energetically. He started stretching out his legs "Thought you'd chickened out and decided not to battle me."

"Chicken out? As if!" Grey countered with his trademark grin. He took his place at the trainer's box and took off his jacket to tie it around his waist; the luxury of air conditioning had been taken away and the sun was merciless today. Still, Grey thanked whatever gods there were for that as well as the clear skies and bright sun. If it'd been a cloudy or rainy day, the battle would have to have been postponed even further back.

"Do you think Grey can keep up the enthusiasm and win today?" June asked Jameson. The boy in blue sat next to her on the bleachers as a few of Kory's students entered the courtyard battlefield.

"Of course he can keep up the enthusiasm. Winning is a different story." James's words were uncharacteristically snappish and short today. June couldn't help but wonder if it had to do with Grey and Rachel's sibling argument.

"Are you alright?" she asked with genuine concern.

"I'm fine, June. Just ticked off at those two. They're supposed to be siblings…" James turned his head away, looking to be in deep thought. June decided that it'd be better not to interrupt him and turned her attention to the battle. It was at that moment Sylva decided to let herself out of her poké ball and sit next to June, taking on her usual role as the redhead's sentinel.

"You wanted to watch too, Sylva?"

_Of course,_ the Wood Gecko replied. By then, nine of Kory's students sat in the bleachers with June and James, Kory had finished his stretches and Fiona was standing on the referee's podium with both flags in hand. Everyone went quiet when Fiona raised the flags and the tension between Gym Leader and Challenger shot up like a rocket.

At that moment, there were no sounds bar the rustling of the leaves as the cross breeze blew by. A few assorted bird pokémon flew by without a sound. Even they seemed to realize the charged atmosphere in the courtyard and respectfully shut their beaks.

"This is an official Pokémon League Gym Battle between Kory, Gym Leader of Mélange Town," she rose the green flag at her brother, her voice official, "and the challenger…" Fiona looked at Grey to finish her sentence.

"Grey Thomas. Puel Town, Almia!" he said proudly.

"This will be a standard pokémon battle with both sides allowed substitutions," Fiona continued. There is no time limit Gym Leader is allowed one more pokémon than the challenger. Challenger, how many pokémon will you be using?"

"Three of 'em," Grey replied with sheer confidence. "That's all I'll need."

"Pretty sure of yourself, dude, but bein' sure don't win battles. You and your pokémon got the skills to back yourself up?" Kory challenged with a devious and expectant smirk. Grey replied by picking out his first poké ball, expanding it, and pointing it at Kory. The Gym Leader's students all 'ooooh'ed at the brash but still universal sign of challenge.

"You tell me," Grey said, defying his opponent to do so.

"Then, trainers, choose your first pokémon!" Fiona shouted. Kory dug into the pocket of his sweat pants and tossed a ball into the air, kicking it into the ring with his bare foot.

"Mankey, you're up first!" he shouted. Mankey exploded onto the scene with a strident cry of his name and beat the ground violently. His need for battle had to be appeased; Mankey was going to make up for the humiliating loss he'd suffered at Shishi's hands. Just the thought of the duskull laughing its raspy laugh made him angrier and by extension, more battle ready.

"Knew it," Grey whispered to himself. "This should be a breeze for my guy. I choose you!" Grey lobbed the ball high over the ring and smiled when it split open to release a waterfall of silver light. The light pooled on the ground before shooting up and morphing into a serpentine form. The light broke apart off the body of Grey's first round choice; Maverick took the field with a proud and deafening,

"ROOOOOOOH!" Everyone present bar Grey and Kory covered their ears, fearing for their hearing.

"He's using an Onix?" one student asked after Maverick's roar subsisded.

"Is he some kind of idiot? Mankey's a Fighting-type!"

"Come on, Grey; rookie mistake!" James growled with unnecessary force.

"I am sure that he has a plan," June said assuredly. "He has learned not to rush in without one, you know."

"Better be one hell of a plan," James muttered.

"Maverick, you feelin' good?" Grey asked the rock snake. A nod was his answer.

_But you're insulting me here, kid. A tiny opponent like this is no match for me,_ Maverick said proudly.

_TINY?_ Mankey raved.

"Mankey versus Onix," Fiona announced. She brought her flags down and signaled the start of the battle. "Start the battle!"

"Mankey, start off with Low Kick!" Kory shouted, pointing at Maverick.

"KEEEY!" screeched the little pig-monkey. He raced towards the massive rock snake on all fours and dropped into a slide tackle when he was at a suitable distance.

"Maverick, Screech!" Grey barked. Maverick lowered his head and opened his gaping maw to let out yet another high-decibel roar. This one actually made the air shimmer as it washed over Mankey like an ocean wave and lowered his defenses. Kory's pokémon was actually blown back by Maverick's sound attack.

"Key key, mankey!" Mankey pounded the ground angrily and got up to receive Kory's next order.

"Okay, Mankey, that was harsh but we can keep goin'," Kory said. He finished cleaning out his ear with his pinky and clenched that hand into a fist, shouting, "Karate Chop!"

Mankey ran at Maverick again, this time jumping high enough to reach the onix's face. He raised an arm, the entire length of it up to his elbow glowing brightly, and prepared to slam it down onto Maverick's snout with a long battle cry.

"Slam!" Grey barked instantly. Maverick's eyes flashed for a split second before he willed his tail to rush up to meet and barrel into Mankey's tiny body. The Pig Monkey Pokémon took the crushing blow head on and was sent flying into the wall behind Kory. Mankey slammed into it and was unconscious by the time he hit the ground. The crowd erupted into a mixture of cheers and boos.

"Go Grey!" June cheered. "Using Screech to worsen Mankey's frailty and then using a high-power attack like Slam was perfect thinking. He is getting better at thinking on the fly."

"But not that much better," Jameson critiqued in a harsh tone. "He was already pretty good at it. This doesn't mean he learned anything."

"Oh…" June deflated a little bit but bounced back in a snap. "Well, it was still a great tactic."

"Mankey is unable to battle! Onix is the winner!" declared Fiona.

"Aww, holy crap! Twice in a row?" Kory shouted in sheer shock. "And by an onix, no less. Jeez, trainer, I didn't see that one comin'."

"Shut up and choose your next pokémon," Grey said with a wide, wild grin. "I'm still rarin' to go!"

"Might wanna pull back a bit, dude," Kory advised over the din of his students chanting his name over and over again. "Go too fast, you'll lose control and crash just like this. Hitmonlee, go!" Kory kicked another ball into the ring and Hitmonlee appeared in a flash, at least six times more confident than he was as Tyrogue.

"Hit! Mon! Lee!" _Bring! It! On! _he grunted while performing three consecutive kicks with one leg.

_You asked for it, runt!_ Maverick eagerly obliged.

"Hitmonlee versus Onix! Start the battle!"

"With pleasure. Hitmonlee, Jump Kick!" Kory roared as he punched the air. Hitmonlee wasted no time; he took two long, loping strides before following the same route as Mankey and jumping up. Grey ordered another Slam attack but the Kicking Pokémon's dexterity saved his bacon.

While Maverick's tail was rushing towards him, Hitmonlee threw out a hand, clung to the rocky surface and flipped over Maverick's tail while he delivered a stretch scissor kick to the rock snake's jaw. Grey had to admit; that was very impressive. Kory's students wholeheartedly agreed and showed it through their loud cheering.

"Nice, Hitmonlee!" Kory punched the air again. Hitmonlee back-flipped back over to his side of the field to await further orders while Maverick tried to bring his world back into focus after that jarring super-effective blow.

"Maverick, you okay?" Grey called out in concern. The onix growled a soft affirmative and defensively coiled himself tighter. "Good, then let's show 'em how we do things. AncientPower!"

A milky silver, ethereal sheen covered all twenty-eight feet of Maverick's body and coalesced into a giant orb in front of him. Maverick launched the attack at an unimpressed and unmoving Hitmonlee. The Kicking Pokémon only crossed his arms defensively in front of him and took the blow head on, not even flinching.

"The hell?" Grey exclaimed.

"C'mon, dude. Rock-type special attacks against a Hitmonlee? You got a lot to learn!" Kory said through his laughter.

"Monlee," the kicker added smugly.

"Maverick, try a Headbutt!" Grey ordered in retaliation. Maverick responded by coiling tighter and flinging himself headfirst. Hitmonlee's incredible legs helped him jump high above Maverick's attack while the onix's head crashed into the ground and sent slabs of the battlefield into the sky. "Damn…"

"Hitmonlee, Mega Kick!" Kory called. He mimicked his pokémon's earlier actions and launched three kicks.

If Hitmonlee'd had a mouth, it'd be curled upwards in a victorious smirk. He performed a tuck-and-roll in midair and extended his leg out as far as it could go - about ten feet - and dropped it down on Maverick's skull in a brutal glowing axe kick. The force of the diamond-hard impact forced Maverick's head into the ground and more pieces of the battlefield and a huge dust plume were cast into the air. The effect of an onix head hitting the ground was devastating; everyone present hopped a few feet into the air and the sound of Maverick hitting the ground was akin to that of a small explosion.

Hitmonlee landed gracefully as the dust began to envelop Maverick's upper body. There was almost no movement inside the dust cloud and that led Fiona to start to declare Hitmonlee the victor. That is until Maverick rose out of the dust cloud like a the proud and regal pokémon that he was and let out another deafening roar. By now, the students in the stands were getting sick of it.

"Shut that thing up, sensei!" A boy with blonde hair shouted over Maverick.

"Jeez, Grey! Can't you control that onix?" Jameson growled through clenched teeth. "That's the fourth damn time!"

"I think I lost count, actually," June replied innocently as Sylva helped her right herself in her seat. She was the only one that seemed unperturbed by the Rock Snake Pokémon's prideful bellows.

"Yeah; awesome, Maverick!" praised Grey. "Dig!" Maverick opened wide and bit into the ground while worming his way under it. Hitmonlee tried to catch him with a Rolling Kick before he got away but the rock snake was in his element. A moment later, Maverick came up under Hitmonlee through the center of the poké ball mark on the field like a breaching wailmer but narrowly missed in his attack.

"Good job, Hitmonlee; that training paid off!" Kory yelled. "Now show him why you're the Kicking Pokémon; another Rolling Kick!" Grey anticipated this and immediately called for a counterstrike.

"Iron Tail!" he commanded, fully absorbed in the battle now. Maverick willed his tail to turn to steel and brought it erupting out of the ground and towards Hitmonlee. His opponent jumped again but Maverick saw that coming leagues away and flung his tail straight up and caught Hitmonlee in the gut. Maverick's blow actually sent Hitmonlee into a horizontal midair spin.

"Never forget about the tail," Grey grinned. It quickly slid right off his face when he saw the devious glint in Kory's eye.

"And never give your opponent ammo!" Kory countered. "Hitmonlee, use the rotation and finish this onix off. One more Rolling Kick!"

"What?" Maverick and Grey both looked up to see that Hitmonlee was actually taking advantage of his situation and forcing himself to spin faster. When he reached peak velocity, he stretched his leg out as hard as he could and his entire leg and heel impacted Maverick's jaw. The onix's head was sent upwards by the uppercut kick and he keeled over backwards, landing with another loud thud. Hitmonlee landed victoriously on Maverick's chest area, his opponent unconscious.

"Holy hell…" Grey breathed. He was completely awed and nobody could rightly blame him. For a Gym Leader to have trained a newly evolved pokémon to use a situation like that to their advantage… That just screamed 'skill' at the top of its lungs. Grey wasn't doubting himself but he just realized that the scales were now tipped in Kory's favor, even after his quick dispatch of Mankey.

"Onix is unable to battle. Hitmonlee is the winner!" Fiona declared. She raised the green flag towards her brother and his students broke out in praise and cheer. Hitmonlee, deciding to be a total ham, did a few kicks and a backflip before stretching out his legs.

"Damn it!" Grey cured under his breath. He sighed and held up a poké ball to recall his fallen onix. "Return, Maverick. You did a great job out there; thanks," he said to the ball.

"See, kid, that's why ya never underestimate your opponent. Mankey went down hard, I'll admit, but didja really think I didn't train Hitmonlee while you were gone?" Kory smirked at Grey while he rolled his shoulders.

"Okay, okay, fine," Grey admitted with a sigh and a laugh. "I screwed up there. But I won't be doin' that anymore. Meet my newest capture!"

_Bring it on,_ Hitmonlee challenged cockily. _I'll do to them what I did to that Onix._ Picking up a few tattered bits of Hitmonlee's brash emotions, Grey's grin shrank and he refocused his energies on taking the Fighting-type down. This battle was going to be his one way or the other. He took another poké ball off his belt, flicked it into the air and caught it as it expanded.

"Strabi, battle style!" Silver light flew out of the poké ball and took form on the ground as Grey's newly caught Shinx. Strabi looked at Hitmonlee critically, an air of confidence and regality about her, and let out a miniature roar.

_This is what you're sending out against me? A little girl?_ Hitmonlee laughed, a bit insulted at the same time. _He's just askin' for it._

_I'll show you what this 'little girl' can do, you overconfident oaf. Don't blame me when you're covered in electrical burns_, Strabi responded coolly.

"A shinx, eh? Well, let's see what she can do," Kory shrugged.

"Hitmonlee versus Shinx! Start the battle!"

"Quick Attack~!" Grey slashed a hand through the air and Strabi obeyed without question. She focused all her energy in her back legs and sped forward, a ribbon of white light streaking behind her. Hitmonlee couldn't react fast enough and took a face-full of shinx fur. The blow sent Hitmonlee reeling for all of a second; Kory reacted with his usual fighting move and a cry of,

"Rock Tomb, go!"

Hitmonlee put his hands together and conjured a purple energy ball into existence. Grey, familiar with this attack, quickly formed a plan of evasion. Hitmonlee finished forming his attack and threw the ball at the ground in front Strabi. When it hit, a stalagmite burst out of the ground with the goal of spearing the shinx in front of it.

"Lean back!" Grey barked. Strabi did just that and leaned back just in time. The stalagmite was just centimeters from her nose and she felt a bead of sweat form just above it. "Good girl, Strabi. Now Charge!" Strabi nodded and started to pull static out of the air. Her fur danced with it and stood on end when she finished.

"Let's not give them the chance, Hitmonlee! Brick Break!" Kory commanded. Hitmonlee gave a loud grunt of effort and pushed himself off the ground towards Strabi in one. His right arm took on a blinding white sheen and he brought it downwards with all the skill of a chopping master.

"Gotcha! Strabi, dodge and use Spark!" Hitmonlee's attack missed its mark when Strabi made a quick hop to the side and instead hit the battlefield. Next, the yellow bands on Strabi's front legs started generating electricity that quickly enveloped her entire body in crackling yellow light. The light grew in intensity when it met the charge Strabi had stored up. Hitmonlee knew he was in trouble.

"Get out of there!" Kory cried. But it was too late. Strabi jumped up and rammed him in the middle with her little body and transferred the charge she'd built up to Hitmonlee. The Fighting-type's body seized up in pain as the electricity sparked and popped and caused his muscles to clench tightly.

"I hoped it wouldn't have Limber," Grey said. "Strabi, use Night Slash!"

"Shiyaaaah!" cried the little lion cub as both her bands and claws adopted a sinister black light. Hitmonlee fought hard and was able to break the electricity's hold over his body just in time. Strabi slashed at his legs repeatedly and jumped to reach his body a few times but it looked as it the Kicking Pokémon had made a full recovery by the way he expertly dodged.

"Damn it; Strabi, use your Spark one more time!"

"It takes time to build up enough power for that," Kory noticed. "Counter with Double Kick and keep up the assault!" Hitmonlee was more than happy to dish out some payback. While Strabi took a few moments to begin charging, he took a literal second to ready his legs and started to execute kick after kick after kick down at Strabi. The Flash Pokémon was hit by the initial strike and was forced to put her all into not getting wailed on like a punching bag.

"You're doing great, girl, keep it up!" Grey encouraged. On the inside, he was at a loss on how to come back from this barrage. He clenched his teeth and knit his brow in concentration as Hitmonlee moved forward from his side of the field with every strike. Strabi was forced to keep moving back as a result.

"He's getting backed into a corner," Jameson noted.

"What do you mean?" June asked him, unfamiliar with battling terms.

"I mean just look at him. The battlefield is huge and Hitmonlee is forcing Strabi backwards towards Grey with each kick. You tell me how he's getting out of this one."

"I got it!" Grey exclaimed to himself. A devious grin spread on his face and he commanded, "Strabi, keep moving back!"

"Nyah!" his shinx cried in affirmation. Hitmonlee was upping the speed of his kicks so Strabi was even more hard-pressed to both dodge and move back like Grey ordered. She hopped over one particularly fierce kick and actually felt a cut open on her forehead. Strabi moved back a few more feet while managing to absorb Hitmonlee's lighter blows and narrowly dodge the more deadly ones.

"Mon lee!" Hitmonlee grunted when he decided to lift his leg and drop it back down with tremendous force. The kick made it look as if a land mine had gone off under Hitmonlee's foot. Strabi was able to dodge the axe kick but a follow up sweep kick sent her up twenty feet into the air.

"Good, now Hi Jump Kick!" Kory shouted ecstatically. His confidence took one hell of a nose dive a second later. Hitmonlee was right in front of the poké ball symbol; right in front of the hole Maverick created during his resurfacing.

"Grey, look out!" June cried fearfully.

"Gotcha…" the black-haired trainer whispered. As Hitmonlee raised his right knee to strike with his signature move, his left foot got caught on the rim of the hole as he jumped. The result: Hitmonlee's balance was off and his Hi Jump Kick missed Strabi by a mile. Hitmonlee careened out of control at the wall behind Grey and his knee collided into the wall. The excruciating impact traveled through Hitmonlee's entire right leg and he gave a pained, strangled shout.

"Hitmonlee!" Kory cried in concern for his pokémon. Strabi landed with feline grace and looked over at Hitmonlee, now on Grey's side of the field and holding his knee, eyes clenched and hopping on one foot.

_Thanks for not letting me down, Grey! _she said, now charged and energized by the shift in their favor.

_Ow! Son of a bitch! I'm gonna get you for that!_ Hitmonlee groaned.

"Strabi, Shock Wave!" Grey called out with a grin. His Shinx's bands glowed again and generated a massive charge of blue lightning. Strabi yowled and released the homing blast at Hitmonlee with intent to win that her opponent felt the moment the attack connected. The charged filled his body and caused him to go into heavy convulsions. When Shock Wave was finished, Hitmonlee was left with electrical burns while his body smoked faintly.

"Damn it… Hitmonlee, return!" Kory commanded. A loud shout of protest was heard from the Kicking Pokémon before he was engulfed in red and called back.

"So, how was that?" Grey asked cockily.

"Impressive," Kory willingly admitted. "You waited til the right moment to strike and trusted that little shinx o' yours. Good job, trainer."

"Thanks. Strabi, return." Strabi fixed him with a raised eyebrow and a curious look.

_But I can still fight,_ she protested even though she was winded from all that dodging paired with taking a few of Hitmonlee's kicks. Not knowing if Grey would understand, she shook her head and growled.

"I know you can still keep goin'," Grey said understandingly. "But I wanna make sure you stick around in case I need ya. Don't want a repeat of Maverick." The young shinx understood. She heaved a sigh of reluctance and strutted back to her trainer's side where she was hugged and scratched behind the ears as a show of thanks.

"Good work out there, girl. Thanks a lot," Grey whispered to her. Kory took out another poké ball, this time throwing it into the ring. Breloom appeared in all his glory and pawed at the ground, eager for combat.

"Unless you got a Flyin'-type, you're outta luck here, champ," Kory said. "You got one?"

"No," Grey confessed, "but I got the next best thing. Soul, battle style!" Grey released the ball with a backhand throw and Soul burst on the scene with an admittedly cute roar, his usual toothy grin and a flex of his claws.

"Chaaar!" he growled, ready, willing, and able. _Let's torch somethin'!_

"Soul looks really excited. I can tell Grey is going to win this match!" June giggled. She produced her clipboard and pen seemingly out of nowhere and added, "Plus, this will be a great chance to see how much he has grown in comparison to wild charmander."

"Uh, June, where exactly do you keep that?" Jameson asked unsurely.

_Come on, firebug. Show us what you've got,_ Sylva said with an amused smile.

"Goin' with the obvious type advantage," Kory noted. "Alright then."

"Breloom versus Charmander!" Fiona raised her flags and brought them straight back down. "Let the battle begin!"

"Soul, this is gonna be a walk in the park," Grey assured his charmander. "Let's start off strong!"

"Beat ya to it!" Kory grunted." Breloom, use Headbutt then use Stun Spore!"

"LOOM!" Breloom bellowed. He took off, powerful saurian legs driving him, and lowered his mushroom cap head down at his tiny opponent while releasing toxic yellow spores.

"As if. Soul, Will-O-Wisp!" Grey barked with a wild grin. Soul gave that exact same smile and reared his head back as a spectral ball of blue flame burst to life inside of his mouth. He conjured another one by using his adrenaline to raise the temperature of his tail flame to white hot and launched the first fireball.

It raced towards Breloom's head and incinerated the Stun Spore allowing Soul to rush the Mushroom Pokémon and rake his tail flame across Breloom's body. The effect was instantaneous: blue flames spread like wildfire and completely consumed Breloom, cooling back down to the reddish-orange fire that spoke of a burn.

"Breeee!" cried the distressed living mushroom. The flames dispersed as easily as they'd come but Breloom would feel their effects for a long time.

_How's that for ya?_ Soul taunted.

"Alright!" Grey rooted, pumping both his fists in victory.

"Okay, now that was odd," Jameson said noting how Grey's personality shifted when Soul was called out.

"I know. It is as if Grey receives a boost of courage whenever Soul is on the battlefield. The same goes for Soul. Why do you think that is?" June wondered.

"Dunno, but it looks like the adrenaline's finally gotten to Grey," Jameson pointed out. "He might get wrecked in this fight if it keeps up."

"Man, am I ever glad we taught you Will-O-Wisp!" Grey grinned.

"Char char!"

"Breloom, no backing down! Use Stone Edge!"

"Bre bre breloom!" Breloom glared at Soul with the utmost venom and slammed the ground with his tail. A few slabs of the battlefield came up and began to rapidly orbit him before he threw his arms forward and sent them at Soul.

"Low accuracy move," Grey muttered quickly to himself. The threw out an arm and screamed, "Get out of there! Metal Claw the ones you can't dodge!"

Soul broke out in a sprint to get away from the deadly barrage of stone arrowheads. Grey had been right when he pegged Stone Edge as being hard to aim because most of the stones flew right over Soul's head. The few that made it close were Metal Clawed into dust in a similar manner to the way Sniper did it. The only difference was that bladed bug was much faster and had reflexes that put Soul's to shame.

"Now's our chance! Mach Punch!" Kory threw a punch of his own at the same time Breloom stomped towards Soul. The Mushroom Pokémon pulled his now glowing fist back and threw it with all the skill and force of a pro boxer, catching Soul in the side of the face with the blow. Everyone watching could've sworn they'd felt the hit themselves.

"Don't back down, Soul! Fire Fang!" Grey commanded. Soul edgily growled at Breloom and completely filled his mouth with searing hot fire before turning his head and biting down on Breloom's outstretched arm. Being half Grass-type did not help the mushroom in this situation as the fire traveled up his arm. The combination of sharp fangs and fire was a potent one.

"Use your tail!" cried Kory. Breloom did so and clubbed Soul's tiny body with the hardened spore pods on his tail, dislodging the fire breather from his arm. "Sky Upper, now!"

"The hell is a Sky Upper?" Grey asked in a mix of confusion and expectation. "Whatever; Soul, get ready to dodge!"

Soul nodded and brushed himself off after that last attack and prepared to dodge. Breloom's burn activated before his attack could start and he burst into flames for a moment. Grey told Soul to fire off an Ember but they'd misjudged the strength of Breloom's fighting spirit. Breloom sped forward ignoring the fact that he was on fire, his fist literally crackling with fighting spirit and before Soul could react or Grey could issue an order, landed a swift, fierce uppercut to the Lizard Pokémon's jaw. Soul was flung high into the air by the powerful Fighting attack, quickly becoming a silhouette against the backdrop of the harsh sun. All eyes turned up towards the Charmander.

"Chaaaa…!"

"Oh, no!" June cried.

"I knew this'd happen," Jameson said solemnly.

"Soul!" Grey shouted frantically. After a hit like that, Grey wasn't sure if Soul could recompose himself in time to dodge a follow up attack. He felt panic slowly grip his heart, concerned for his pokémon's safety.

"Stone Edge once more!" Kory cried triumphantly. Breloom summoned the energy rings and transmuted them into orbiting stone arrowheads, taking aim and readying to fire.

"Soul, do something!"

_Do something…!_ Soul repeated. At that moment, a huge power built up in Soul's chest and expanded outwards until it reached the tips of his fingers, toes, and tail. The power was unbelievable and seemed to increase Soul's power well beyond his current limits. Unbeknownst to the charmander, his body began to shine a luminous, immaculate white. Those on the ground all knew what it meant when his body began to match the color of the white hot sun.

"Soul…" Grey breathed. "I don't believe it; you're evolving!"

_About time,_ Strabi and Sylva said in synchrony.

"Well, that just sucks for me, don't it?" Kory muttered.

Soul's evolution began the moment he landed back in front of Grey. He grew at least two-and-a-half feet taller and his tail grew until it was as long as his body. His arms extended outwards and became more muscular while his claws morphed from their tiny, unnoticeable form into razor sharp, prominent daggers. The claws on his feet did the same and he grew a horn that extended outwards from the back of his skull while his mouth matured into a snout.

When the light finally died down, it revealed that Soul's scales had turned colors. They were no longer the soft orange of a charmander, replaced by the vibrant crimson red of a charmeleon. The blue color of his eyes had deepened as well, becoming a clear, crisp azure. His tail flame immediately tripled in size.

"Chaaaaaar me!" Soul roared in his new deeper voice. He flicked his tail like a whip, stared Breloom down and grinned, showcasing a whole new set of fangs.

_I'm liking this, _he said, pleased with his new form. Grey fought to hold back his cry of victory and scanned Soul with the Pokédex.

**Charmeleon, the Flame Pokémon. The evolved form of Charmander, Charmeleon is capable of breathing flames three times as hot as before. This is thanks to the bigger flame burning on its tail as well as the increased level of control gained upon evolution. Charmeleon are avid and vicious battlers. They attack at close range with their claws, fangs and tail while utilizing their fire breath for long range attacks. A charmeleon's tail is very powerful, capable of lifting and carrying an adult human with ease.**

**Gender: Male**

**MOVES: Ember, Fire Fang, Dragon Rage, Smokescreen, Growl, Metal Claw, Will-O-Wisp, Aerial Ace, Slash* (new move; replaced 'Scratch')**

"Oh, YEAH! Soul, you did it, buddy! You're a charmeleon now!" Grey hollered in triumph.

"Me!" Soul grunted confidently.

"So what?" Kory snorted. "You still let your guard down. Breloom, launch the Stone Edge!"

"Bre!" exclaimed the Mushroom Pokémon as he sent his barrage of stones at the newly evolved Soul.

"Soul, end this now! Aerial Ace!" Soul's grin widened and he dodged Stone Edge while performing a near-perfect Aerial Ace on his first try. Still in use of the attack, Soul curved his path and clawed at Breloom before the slashing winds did their job. Unable to stand up to the quadruple effectiveness of Aerial Ace, Breloom fell to defeat.

"Breloom is unable to battle! Charmeleon is the winner!" Fiona declared. Even under a torrent of boos from Kory's students, Soul and his trainer held their heads proudly.

"You have got some kinda crazy luck, trainer. For that little firebug to've evolved when he did was perfect timing," Kory said. He returned Breloom with a sigh and gave the ball a silent thank you.

"Soul, that was sick! Come back for a bit," Grey said. Soul gave no objects and returned to Grey's side with a slight pang of reluctance tugging at his heartstrings.

"Char me leon," _What d'you think?_ the charmeleon asked the shinx. He flashed another toothy grin, this one spilling over with embers.

"Shyaa… Nya nya." _Well… It's cool,_ Strabi replied simply. Soul's face fell like a ton of bricks.

_And after that victory, you'd think I'd get a little more praise,_ he sighed jokingly.

* * *

"Glad you came to visit," Danny said. He grinned at Rachel and Vulpix as they entered his hospital room and sat down at his bedside. Danny's upper torso had been bandaged tightly and he'd been given a few painkillers to help with his ribs. Luckily for him, Kestrel had only broken one rib and cracked the other one. He was still in some serious pain but it wasn't as bad as it could've been. Vulpix hopped gracefully onto the bed and licked Danny's face in greeting.

Danny's hospital room was plain and simple. His bed was in the center and the windows were right across from him on the right side. The bathroom was right next to the entrance and a TV hung in the bottom left corner of the room. Typical of a hospital, everything was stark white from the sheets on his bed to the buttons on his TV. The sun shone in brightly through the open window and the breeze felt nice whenever it decided to go by.

"Don't mention it. It is my brother's fault that you're hurt and…well, you're cute," Rachel replied, her face tingeing as pink as her hair. Vulpix suppressed a giggle.

"Thanks for the compliment." Danny laughed but immediately regretted it when the pain in his ribs decided to step in. "Ow…! Okay, remember that it hurts to laugh…"

"Are you alright?" Rachel sprung up out of concern. "Can I get you anything? Water; more pillows; maybe call the nurse and get you some food or painkillers?" Vulpix couldn't take it anymore and erupted into full-blown laughter. It was rare that Rachel behaved in such a way and to see the girl she'd grown up with act like a love struck teenager amused Vulpix to no end.

"Rachel, I'm fine, seriously," Danny reassured her. "Sit back down. I just wanted to talk to you."

_Seriously, Rachel. Get a grip,_ Vulpix said through her giggles.

"Oh…" Rachel blushed even more and sat back down, kicking herself for acting like a flustered schoolgirl. For Arceus's sake, she was a Pokémon Ranger. They were supposed to handle themselves professionally. "Well, what'd you want to talk about?"

"About Grey. Is he alright?" Danny asked with genuine concern. Rachel winced visibly but it went over Danny's head as he continued. "I mean, I know he doesn't really like me what with me flirting with you and all…' Rachel clenched her fist in anger but hid it from the injured young man. "But I saw him go after the guy that did this to me. Did he come back hurt or what?"

"No…" Rachel said slowly. "He came back just fine. Apparently, he challenged the man to a battle and Soul got roughed up pretty good, but they're both okay now." Danny heaved a sigh of relief.

"Thank Arceus; I was afraid it'd be all my fault if he came back in worse condition than me. That dude was seriously sadistic…"

"Your fault?" Rachel asked. She was both confused and a little bit angry. How would it have been Danny's fault if Grey had done his usual thing: doing something stupid and getting hurt? She put her thoughts into words and Danny replied,

"Well, I thought he was going after the dude to pay him back for what he did to me. That_ is_ why he went after him." He gave a short pause. "…Right?"

"He never told us why," Rachel answered. "Probably thought the guy was strong and he could've gotten stronger by beating him." Her emotions started boiling over and she continued, spite becoming more apparent in her voice.

"I mean, that's what trainers do, right? They go off gallivanting around who knows were fighting and making their pokémon get stronger while their family is stuck at home worrying about them…"

"Rachel, are you feeling alright?"

"I'm fine!" the pinkette snapped. Instantly sorry, she grabbed Danny's hand in apology. "I'm sorry… It's just…" She sighed, unable to get the words out. Why is it that she couldn't express herself when she was doing so well seconds before?

"Tell me. I may have a broken rib, but that dude didn't break my ears," Danny joked.

"It's just… It's just that… Well, you know that I'm a ranger and back home, Grey was training to become one, too. Except he always had this stupid dream of becoming a Pokémon Trainer instead. I mean, he showed so much promise as a ranger!"

_He did,_ Vulpix added. _He was the fastest runner back in his class in Almia. His agility was good but his balance could stand some improvement._

"You mean, like, full on flips and jumps and agility and stuff? Wow, Grey can do that?" Danny marveled, suddenly impressed with the cocky young trainer.

"Mhm, and I can too. We were trained to do that kind of stuff since we were ten. And we're only supposed to have _one_ pokémon partner with us. But ever since we landed on Pacific Island, he hasn't been keeping up with his training; he's just been making his pokémon fight without even stopping to think about how they feel or if they even want to fight! It's abuse, I tell you!"

"Well, that's not entirely -" Danny started.

"Not to mention that Pokémon Rangers have been a Thomas family tradition since my great-great-grandfather!" Rachel raved on, her emotions in full control now. How could Grey have just thrown all that out the window? And my parents! Dear Mew, my parents… Mom is probably bawling her eyes out and Dad is furious at him for sure!"

"Rachel -"

And he's so goddamn smug! I mean, he knew I was out of my comfort zone when I asked for lessons on how to catch pokémon and what did he do? He _laughed_ at me! I thought getting his ass kicked by that Emily Gym Leader girl would've told him he wasn't good enough and that he should just head back home, but no! Grey's so stubborn and thickheaded that it didn't even register with him! He just kept on going!"

"Rachel, you need to -"

"I don't understand how someone can be so selfish and stupid as to not even consider how his own parents and charmander would feel before going off and wasting his life like this! He is such an _idiot!_" Rachel finally built up enough anger for her to slam her fist on the bedside table. next to Danny's bed. Either because it was made of such flimsy wood or because Rachel was just that strong, she actually left a good sized dent behind.

"Rachel!" Danny shouted. Rachel caught herself but her anger still showed in her clenched jaw, her heavy breathing, and her balled up fists. "What the hell was that? I didn't know you hated your brother that much…"

_Rachel, calm down,_ Vulpix urged sadly. She hated seeing her trainer like this

"I don't hate him," Rachel corrected him with a sigh. "I'm just… Disappointed. Disappointed that he'd forsake a family tradition. I mean, I know Dad promised that he could be a trainer after Soul hatched and then acted like it'd never happened, but… I just don't know."

"Well, there it is," Danny said simply. Rachel gave him a perplexed look.

"There what is?"

"You said your dad retracted his promise to Grey. How old is he now; fifteen? I guess, over the years, he'd finally gotten sick of being forced to do something he didn't want to and took it upon himself to realize his dream. You can't be mad at the kid for being true to himself," Danny said rationally.

Rachel had to admit it. Danny was right. She couldn't be mad at him for that. But she still was and she could damn sure be mad at him for throwing away a family tradition. With a familial loyalty streak running nineteen years, anybody in Rachel's position would have been just as outraged.

"I know…" Rachel bitterly submitted. "But can I be mad because he keeps telling me to leave?"

"Rachel, Grey's a big boy. Kids half a decade younger than him go off and do this and come back just fine. You really need to just let this go," Danny said soothingly. Rachel said nothing. At that moment, it felt as if the entire world were telling her she was wrong. Thomas family pride wouldn't let her accept that.

* * *

"Hitmonlee, you're back out!" A haggard-looking Hitmonlee retook the stage. He was doubled over and leaning on his left leg thanks to his badly executed Hi Jump Kick from earlier. That translated to Grey as 'easy pickings'.

"Strabi, let's finish the job here," he said. Strabi sauntered back onto the battlefield to end this match once and for all.

_Whatsa matter, big boy? Burn yourself out?_ she taunted in a fake sultry purr. _Aww, too bad. My cat toy's broken. _Hitmonlee couldn't even mount a comeback; the pulsating pain in his knee spiked before he could.

"Hitmonlee versus Shinx, round two." Fiona took a short pause before signaling the start with her flags.

"Strabi, Charge then Spark! Hitmonlee can't take another hit!" Grey reeled off commands faster than ever before but that didn't hinder Strabi. She knew Hitmonlee wouldn't be able to interrupt her this time so she charged up as much power as she could before breaking out in a run with Spark.

"Hitmonlee, change in tactics. Use your left leg now!" Hitmonlee growled under his breath and shifted his weight onto his uninjured leg. When Strabi transitioned in a flying tackle, Hitmonlee bent backwards like a willow tree and laughed as the bright ball of electricity passed over him. Kory grinned at the shocked look on Grey's face.

"No problem, Strabi, just keep attacking. Quick Attack and keep up the assault!" Grey ordered. Strabi streaked at Hitmonlee more times than she could count, creating a crisscrossing matrix of light streaks all around the Kicking Pokémon but she could never land a hit. Hitmonlee leg was just too flexible, even in his weakened state. For the umpteenth time, Kory's students started chanting his and Hitmonlee's names.

"Rock Tomb!" Kory barked. Hitmonlee formed another purple energy ball and threw it at the ground in front of Strabi's current path. Strabi collided with the resulting stalagmite and was slowed down long enough for Hitmonlee to switch legs for a moment and land a Rolling Kick. The shinx cub skipped across the ground but righted herself when she ended up in front of Grey.

"Nice try, but we planned for this," Kory said.

"Alright, fine. Strabi, Shock Wave then use Quick Attack!" The blue lightning blast came first and stalled Hitmonlee long enough for Strabi to finally get a Quick Attack in. Hitmonlee took the hit like a man and retaliated with a Brick Break square in the back. When Strabi hit the ground, Hitmonlee switched feet again and kicked Strabi away.

"Again, Quick Attack!"

"You know the drill, Hitmonlee!" Again, Grey's shinx streaked across the field as quick as her little legs could take her while Hitmonlee prepared to bend over backwards once more.

"Jump!" Grey suddenly ordered. Strabi stalwartly obeyed the order and jumped, ending up right above Hitmonlee. "Now!" Grey prayed Strabi would be able to follow through and yelled out, "Iron Tail!"

Strabi let out a cry of determination and made her tail as hard as a steel beam as she rolled forward and whipped Hitmonlee with it. The attack would have spelled Hitmonlee's defeat if not for Strabi losing her control and letting her tail return to normal. Nevertheless, Hitmonlee bent out of the way in time and switched to his injured leg, preparing to land the finishing blow.

"Mega Kick!" Kory ordered. Hitmonlee pulled his leg back and focused every last bit of his power into the powerful blue shine that enveloped his foot.

Strabi's pride had had enough. How hard was it for her to perform a simple Iron Tail? With righteous indignation and before Hitmonlee could aim, she forced her tail to become steel once more, hopped up, and whipped her tail into the back of Hitmonlee's bum knee. Immediately, a surge of pain ripped its way through Hitmonlee's leg and caused him to black out, the glow around his foot fading fast. The Kicking Pokémon hit the ground hard; Strabi poked him in the side to see if he was really unconscious and let out a prideful yowl when he didn't get back up.

"Hitmonlee is unable to battle!" A wave of boos met that statement. "Shinx is the winner!"

"Shiyaah!" Strabi cried. She ran back to Grey and leapt into his arms ecstatically, happy to have won her first real battle. "Nyarra," she purred.

"Strabi, that was sick! Does this mean you finally learned Iron Tail?" Grey asked through his exuberant laughter. Strabi only shrugged and nuzzled under his chin.

"Hitmonlee, return." Kory sighed heavily. "Ahh, damn…"

"Only one left, Soul. You're on and make it a good one," Grey ordered with a wide grin. This battle was going greatly. He might've lost Maverick early on but Strabi pulled through for him and Soul had even evolved! He pondered exactly why Strabi was so fast and why she knew Quick Attack. The only answer he could come up with was 'her father was a Manectric'. A good answer, but that left the mystery of Strabi's Night Slash unsolved.

"This is it," June said, fully engrossed in the battle. She was so into it, she'd forgotten to take notes after Soul evolved. "Kory's last pokémon. If Grey can beat Monferno, then that means he wins the badge."

"And he's still got two pokémon in the reserves. Soul is relatively fine but Strabi is pretty tired," Jameson said. "It all comes down to who wants it more, I guess."

Because Grey could feel Strabi's heavy breathing in his arms, he thought against sending her in. Soul once again took to the battlefield and let out a roar daring Kory to send out his last. Kory took out his fourth and final poké ball and smiled fondly at it.

"You don't know who's in here, do ya, trainer? You left 'fore you could see," Kory realized.

"Nope, I don't," Grey replied with a shake of his head. "But who or whatever it is, Soul and I are going to beat 'em and win. Right, partner?"

"Char meleon," the newly evolved Flame Pokémon replied with confidence.

"Just remember you had this ass kicking coming. Monferno, it's all you bud!" Kory cried as he flung the ball into the arena. A waterfall of silver rained down and formed into Kory's monferno, ready to bring seven different kinds of pain.

_Oh, sweet, another Fire-type!_ Monferno cheered. _This'll make it even more satisfying when I kick your ass!_

_You kick_ my_ ass? In your dreams, monkey boy,_ Soul said coolly. "Char," _C'mon, _Soul grunted at Monferno. He beckoned the monkey to come at him with one claw, grunting. "Me le on!" _Bring it on!_

"Makaaa…" _You got it…_

"This is the final match. Monferno versus Charmeleon!" Fiona announced. Both pokémon and their respective trainers blocked out everything else and knew only what was right in front of them: the battle. Kory's students stopped cheering out of respect, James leaned forward expectantly and June clenched her clipboard tightly. The suspense was literally visible.

"Begin!"

"Mach Punch!" Kory barked the second his sister's flags reached her sides. Monferno wasted absolutely no time, practically flying across the field and burying his fist in Soul's face. Soul grit his teeth in annoyance; he hadn't been expecting such a fast opening move.

"Soul, test out your new claws!" Grey commanded. "Slash attack!"

_With pleasure!_ the fire-breather grunted. He too pulled an arm back and hooked his new claws into Monferno's hip before proceeding to rake them across his opponent's stomach with frightening ease. Monferno bit back a scream and threw another punch. Soul caught this one and the two Fire-types grappled for supremacy before Grey said to push Monferno away. Monferno flipped back to his side of the field and hopped from foot to foot, awaiting further orders.

"Smokescreen!" Grey cried.

"No chance. Monferno, Taunt!" Monferno reacted by executing one of the oddest moves Grey had ever laid eyes on. The fire monkey pulled down his bottom eyelid and stuck out his tongue while flipping Grey's charmeleon the middle finger. Needless to say, all in the audience were either appalled or laughing at the display of sheer audacity.

_Wha… You little bastard!_ Soul roared indignantly.

_What? Can't take a little Taunt, Mr. Salamander?_ Monferno sneered. Instead of breathing the smoke out through his mouth, two plumes of acrid black emerged from Soul's nostrils.

"Soul, hold it together," Grey said in an attempt to calm his pokémon down. "Use Aerial Ace!" Soul didn't need to be told twice and again executed an almost perfect Aerial Ace on the first try. He raced forward in a straight line, wind splitting at his snout.

"Flame Wheel, go!" Kory countered confidently. Monferno's own tail flame grew and he formed a fireball in his mouth while trilling loudly. Next, he did a tuck and roll to complete his maneuver and wheeled his way on a collision course with Soul. The resulting impact was painful for both pokémon but neither one of them showed it.

Soul's Aerial Ace still had enough power to equally match the kinetic energy generated by Monferno's rolling. The raging winds that were trailing behind Soul finally caught up with him and met Monferno's Flame Wheel violently. A miniature hurricane of fire now whipped around every which way carrying embers and flames with it and flinging them around.

"Stop him in his tracks!" Grey bellowed over the wind while shielding Strabi at the same time. Soul heard him clearly and pulled out of Aerial Ace to grab the sides of Monferno's Flame Wheel and completely stop its movement. The fire burst apart off of Monferno's body and Soul was left holding the Playful Pokémon's shoulders.

"Right there!" Kory shouted. "Monferno, ThunderPunch!" Monferno let out a battle cry and pulled static out of the air to coat his arm in before driving it into Soul's gut. Like Hitmonlee, Soul's muscles were sent into a dizzying spasm of contractions and expansions that tore control away from the Flame Pokémon. The electrical burn to the stomach wasn't very pleasant either.

_Goddamn it, I _hate_ electric attacks!_ Soul growled through gritted fangs. Soul used every last bit of his willpower to force the sparks off his body and face Monferno again.

"Fury Swipes!" Kory ordered. Since he was still in close quarters with Soul, Monferno didn't have to traverse the entire battlefield so he could start repetitively scratching Soul with his nails that paled in comparison to Soul's claws. Nevertheless, the move still did damage, but not a great deal of it.

"Soul, get out of close range! Stop his attack and punch him!" Soul did just that, catching Monferno's hand in mid-Fury Swipe and throwing a punch at the monkey's face. Monferno copied his opponent and caught Soul's fist in his own hand, forcing the two of them to grapple once more.

"Tail!" was all Grey said but it was more than enough for Soul. Utilizing his thick, flexible new tail, Soul broke out of the grapple, whipped Monferno upside the head and jumped back before he could get attacked again.

"Dragon Rage!" The next thing Monferno knew, a ball of dragonic energy impacted with and exploded on contact with him. An obscuring cloud of dust and smoke covered Monferno completely and blocked him from view. Soul knew it wasn't over yet.

"Monferno, let's show them how we do!" Kory screamed. "Rock Climb!"

"Rock Climb?" Grey asked. His demonstration came a second later. Monferno slammed his foot on the ground inside his dust cloud and the ground under Soul started to shift and raise to form a miniature mountain. The confused Flame Pokémon looked around for any sign of his fellow Fire-type and got it a second too late when Monferno literally skated up the mini-mountain on the tectonic fissures he created and slammed into Soul with the force of a small train. Soul flew off the peak of the rock formation but was able to right himself in time to dig his claws into the rock and safely slide down. The mountain somehow retreated back into the ground when Soul touched down.

"Monferno, Shadow Claw!" Kory commanded. Ghost-type energies were worked up from the deepest parts of Monferno's power and made to fit over his arms like gloves with three demonic claws for fingers.

"Wow, we are seeing a much more varied moveset than the last time Monferno battled!" June exclaimed. She suddenly remembered she should be taking notes and started to scrawl away only looking up to watch the battle. "Go on, Soul; Grey! Win this!"

"Soul, counter it with Slash!" Soul's own six claws took on a metallic sheen and he brandished them dangerously before he and Monferno ran at each other. They both jumped and met in midair over the hole Maverick made in the center of the field and ended up on the opposite trainer's side. They did it again, clashing and pushing apart before taking to normal ground combat.

Blow after crushing blow was traded between the two with only one every five strikes making any contact. With each strike, the pokémon got more tired and the trainers got more into the battle. Soul suddenly ducked under one of Monferno's more wild strikes and pivoted, bringing his tail up to crash into Monferno's stomach. Payback for the earlier ThunderPunch.

"Fire Fang!" Grey barked and Soul's mouth overflowed with flames. While the fire itself did minimal damage, Monferno couldn't help but scream out at the sensation of Soul's fangs piercing his shoulder. Monferno threw Soul off of him and again the two pokémon broke apart from their battle dance, both looking considerably winded.

"Monferno, Rock Climb one more time!" Kory ordered. "We're finishing this!" Another mountain rose under Soul's feet; he almost lost balance when it finished forming. Again Monferno rode up his creation and lowered his shoulder down to drive it into Soul's body.

"Soul, stop him!" Grey bellowed. Soul matched his trainer's shout and stuck out both hands to stop Monferno in his tracks. The Flame Pokémon was able to startle Monferno into losing control over Rock Climb and the mountain sank back down again. For a third time now, the two Fire-types grappled.

"Flame Wheel!" Monferno broke out of Soul's hold for a second and tucked into another Flame Wheel. Soul took hold of the sides of the wheel and attempted to stop Monferno's rolling against his stomach but to no avail.

"Throw him into the sky!" Grey shouted suddenly. With w mighty shout, Soul flung Monferno's rolling body into the air. "Dragon Rage him!" Next, the evolved pokémon's tail flame grew and his eyes flashed white with power. He formed the Dragon Rage attack with ease and launched it at Monferno. The impact and resulting explosion shot Monferno further up but he just wouldn't go down.

"Mach Punch!" Kory bellowed with a tone of finality. Monferno screeched loudly and somehow made himself shoot back down at the ground towards Soul.

"Finish it! Aerial Ace!"

"Chaaaar!" Soul howled. He rocketed towards Monferno with Aerial Ace with the aim of ending this fight. Monferno threw his fist forward and kept on going on Kory's order but Soul wasn't about to take another punch to the face. He curved around Monferno, letting the monkey reach the ground first, and turned back around to finish his attack. Soul's attack hit home right in the center of Monferno's back.

The Flame Pokémon jumped off of Monferno's back and landed next to Grey to wait for the outcome of the battle. Monferno's vision was hazy and unfocused after that blow. He vaguely heard Kory urging him to keep going but there was no way he could after that attack. He fell face first into the ground where Fiona declared him unable to battle. Kory's students broke out in groans of disappointment but they fell on deaf ears to Grey and Kory.

"Charmeleon is the winner and the battle goes to Grey Thomas of Puel Town!"

"Alright!" Grey let Strabi down and hugged his partner tightly. They'd won their second Gym Badge and Soul had evolved into Charmeleon. Nothing could possibly spoil this moment. "Soul, you rock _so_ hard!"

"Char char me!" the lizard sang triumphantly. June ran down, Sylva on her heels, and slid into the group hug while she cheered Grey, Maverick, Soul and Strabi's names.

"That was phenomenal! The way Soul moved during Aerial Ace! Indescribable!" the redheaded researcher praised.

_Ya did good, kid,_ Sylva said, flashing Soul a thumbs up that was returned with interest in the form of a grin. During their celebrating, Kory sighed and walked onto the field to help up his first pokémon.

"Maaa…?" _Did I win…?_

"Nope. Sorry, bud, but we lost," Kory said with a sad shake of his head. "But we lost to a good trainer so there's nothin' to be ashamed of here. You did great, pal." Kory called Monferno back into his poké ball and called out to Grey.

"Yeah, what is it?" the boy asked, still laughing. Kory smiled at him and said,

"Come back in an hour, trainer. I'll have your badge then. You earned it."

* * *

An hour later and after everyone had been healed, Grey once again stood in Kory's courtyard, Maverick, Soul, and Strabi by his side. Jameson and June stood behind him as he was presented with his second Silver Ring Gym Badge. Kory, also with his pokémon flanking him and his sister behind him, held out a hand to Grey. Sportsmanship was foremost as a Gym Leader, after all.

"Sick battle, dude," he said simply. "We lost and that's all there is to it. I didn't think Breloom'd go down so quick, though." Grey shook Kory's hand and said,

"Hey, when in Rome, learn their weakness and kick their ass!" His pokémon cried out in agreement with him. "Your hitmonlee was pretty sweet, too. Didn't know it could bend like that."

"Yeah, that's somethin' we came up with while you were busy being _late_."

"Mon…" said Hitmonlee humbly. He rubbed the back of his head and waved off the thought. Kory laughed it off.

"Eh, no worries, man. You did good and you really earned this badge. Congrats." Fiona stepped forwards and handed Grey the badge case. Grey opened it and took out his very own Combat Badge, marveling at the way the sunlight caught it.

"Though we lost, we are proud to present you with the official Pokémon League Combat Badge. Congratulations, Trainer Grey," Fiona recited.

"Why you gotta be so formal, sis? Lighten up!" Kory encouraged.

"Didn't you just lose a battle?" Fiona shot back.

"A loss is just a lesson ya have to learn from," Kory replied with a shrug. "Remember that, kid," he said to Grey.

"Trust me, I learned that lesson a long time ago," Grey replied.

_Lizard! _Monferno called to Soul. _We ever have a rematch, your ass is mine, ya hear!_

_That means you, too, little kitty cat, _Hitmonlee added to Strabi.

_In your dreams!_ Soul said. _Grey and me'll just win again and again. Just watch us._

_Sorry I bruised your man-pride but we had a lot riding on this battle, big boy,_ Strabi chuckled.

"Okay! Combat Badge, acquisition complete!" Grey cried.

"Congratulations again, Grey!" June said.

"Nice work out there," James added. Grey didn't hear them, though. He was too happy embracing Soul and Strabi while Maverick coiled around them in his own version of a hug.

* * *

Rachel walked back into the Centre after visiting Danny, ignorant of the abundance of trainers. She hadn't been feeling better like she hoped. In fact, she just felt worse about this entire ordeal. Danny was probably right, she admitted, when he'd said to just let it go. But Rachel couldn't do it. She just felt too betrayed by her brother. Rachel sighed and leaned against the soft pink walls of the lobby, sliding into a seat.

"I need a glass of water…" she muttered.

"Oh, Rachel!" Nurse Joy called when she finished handing a trainer back his pidgeotto. Rachel looked up but didn't give a verbal answer. "There's something here for you; I almost forgot! Come here for a second." Rachel approached the front desk wondering her parents had finally tracked her down and wrote to her or if it was her mission payment.

"What is it, Aunt Joy? I'm a little wiped today…" Rachel said.

"It isn't anything that'll take long. After your brother left, he dropped off something last night and said to give it to you when you returned," Nurse Joy said. "Wait here." Nurse Joy went into the back room and Rachel slumped against the desk. She looked up to see a male trainer in line making eyes at her. She glared daggers at him, daring him to try anything while she was like this. The trainer got the message and backed off, fearing for his safety.

"Here you are," Nurse Joy said. She'd come out of the infirmary with a poké ball and a note in hand. "Grey didn't seem to like it very much, but he said this is what she wanted." With that, she returned to her work and accepted the tray from the boy who'd looked at Rachel.

"She?" Rachel wondered. She left the Centre and went into the two-acre with the note and poké ball, reading Grey's surprisingly neat handwriting before doing anything.

_Okay, listen up and listen good,_ was the opening line. So like Grey._ I don't know why or how but Lucy got it into her head that she wanted to be a Pokémon Ranger's pokémon. So, congrats, you're now the owner of my very first capture. I don't like giving her to you but this is what Lucy wants. Who am I to stop her? Just one condition: I can call back for her to battle whenever I want to and if you're not on a mission. She _is _still my pokémon. Take good care of her._

Rachel blinked a few times trying to absorb the words on the paper. She stared at the poké ball in her hand and a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. Grey was willing to do this for his pokémon even though he despised the very thought of being a ranger. He was even inconveniencing himself by giving his buizel to Rachel. Maybe her brother had a bigger heart than she'd thought.

* * *

**So, Grey wins the Combat Badge, Soul evolves into Charmeleon****, and now Rachel is training Lucy. Grey may be down one pokémon but he can manage until he catches another one. When that'll be is something only I know.**

**What's up with Jimmy? I mean, seriously, normal people wouldn't be so pissed off that siblings are fighting. That's a natural part of life but Jameson is taking it personally. Weird…**

**As I said before, Soul is now a Charmeleon. And he learned Slash. Hell yes.**

**After this, the group is leaving Mélange Town behind in favor of the next Gym Town, Springbloom City. It's right by this beautiful lake where Grey and co. will meet a new friend. Another new friend comes a bit before that and his name is Baxter, an OC belonging to my good friend, alteris.**

**Oh, and it looks like Sonia (and possibly Grey) are on Otto's hitlist. We'll see how that plays out later.**

**Until next time! Read and review, my friends!**

**Oh, that's right; a friend of mine, named Ricki (actually, he's like the ginger version of me) did me a HUGE solid and drew a map of Pacific Island. HAND DRAWN! It's seriously good and awesome and goldy and you should check it out if you want to see what the island looks like and trace Grey's path. Here's the link but I dunno if it'll show up right: **

**raravary (dot) deviantart (dot) com / art / quot-Challenger-quot-Pacific-Island-175485266 **

**Remove all spaces and add dots where necessary.**

**CHAPTER PREVIEW:**

Grey: Okay! Two badges down, ten more to go! This is gonna be so sweet, Soul!

Soul: Charmeleon!

Grey: Yeah, that's what I like to hear! Your evolution is a big step forward for us!

June: I cannot wait, Grey. Where are we headed next?

James: Next town on the map's Springbloom but it's a ways off from here. Might take us a while to get there.

Grey: Eh, that's no problem. We train, maybe catch a new pokémon and it's all good! …Hey, isn't that the kid I met on our way to Mélange Town? Dexter or something.

June: Oh, you mean Derek! I heard his name through the cave echoes. I wonder what he is doing out here on his own.

Rachel: Headed the same place we are, of course. Oh, great, guys; it's those same two grunts we met the day we saw Derek. Perfect…

Grey: I think the Ghost Pokémon they have look kind of familiar… No way! It can't be!

All: Next time on _Challenger!_: Reappearance of a Rival and a Run-in with Team Regal!

Grey: That Derek guy pisses me off!


	15. Reappearance of a Rival

**In the words of the immortal Shinigami-sama from Soul Eater (that's Lord Death for those of you who watch the dubs), Hi, hi, hello! Thank you for coming! Seriously, thank you for coming. Now I know I usually don't get chapters up on a set schedule. Over the summer it was because I was on vacation and, honestly, I just felt like being lazy. Now I have a completely legitimate reason: **

**Advanced Placement United States History. Also known as the dreaded acronym APUSH.**

**That class will rip your soul from your body, chew it up and spit it right back into you. IT'S SO TIME CONSUMING! Seriously, I've been up until 2 AM my time just trying to finish the friggin' notes they make us do out of the textbook! All y'all AP students know what's up! This shit is riDONculous! Aaaanyway… Enough with my ranting. On with the show!**

**SIDE NOTE: I just wanted to thank all of you who read and/or review Challenger. It is a real treat for me and it makes me want to keep on going and writing this story and making it better for you. If there's anything you'd like to see done in-story or modified in my writing, PM me or leave it in a review. Special thanks for Shadow Minamoto and alteris. Dudes are two dedicated readers. More special thanks to Lolli-S whom I mentioned a few chapters back and RARAvary AKA Ray El Rojo Amigo AKA PkMn Trainer Ray AKA GingerMan! for their OC submissions. One of which is gonna show up pretty soon…**

**

* * *

**

"Well, so long, Mélange Town. It was real fun and I'll see ya when I see ya." Grey said his farewells to the second of his Gym Town conquests, his charmeleon faithfully at his side. He turned confidently and with a deep breath of fresh air to take in what lay before him: a seemingly endless expanse of waist-high plains land and the Cloud River to the east, all brilliantly illuminated by the midmorning sun. Kory had told the group that Springbloom City lay far to the southeast of Almond Town which was west of where they were now. So, naturally, Almond Town was their next destination.

"Were the dramatics really necessary, dude?" James asked through a stifled yawn. Atop his head, Shishi shifted so as not to have James's ear pass through him. "You didn't have to say goodbye to the town. It can't say it back." Sniper heaved a sigh from behind James.

_Here we go again,_ he said dejectedly. _Why don't those two just get along?_

_Are Jim-Jim and Grey fighting again, Vulpix? _Mudkip asked, his childlike naiveté doing little to alleviate the growing tension. He cocked his head to the side and one of his gills poked Rachel's chest.

_Unfortunately, yes, Mudkip,_ Vulpix muttered. Immaturity was one of her greatest pet peeves. She was already swamped and stressed enough with her role as the pokémon's unofficial team matron. Between Grey and Rachel's sibling rivalry and the former and James's unexplained friction, her nerves were being worn hair-strand thin.

"Oh, shut up, Rhodes. I'm not in the mood," Grey spat. 10 AM was much too early in Grey's mind for a fight to start and Jameson had been pointedly cold towards the spectacled boy whenever his sibling feud reared its head. As to the reason why, Grey had no earthly clue. It was none of James's business to start with so he couldn't fathom why James would be mad.

"Char leon!" Soul grunted in agreement.

"Guuuys!" June wailed. "You promised no fighting, remember?" The two boys were reminded of their promise to June back in Mélange Town. Needless to say, they quickly stopped their quarrel before it had a chance to grow. June gave a soft giggle and smiled.

"Thank you," she said sweetly. On her shoulders, Rosewood heaved a sigh of relief.

"When'd they promise anything?" Rachel asked in a low mumble.

"Nunya," Grey said with a simple shrug. He adjusted the goggles on his head and asked which route they'd be taking to Almond Town. James was the one to answer him after taking the map out of his bag

"It's a pretty straightforward path," James said, surveying the map. "We just keep going west. You can't miss it, either. Almond Town's a huge rural place." Grey groaned at 'rural'.

"Aww, seriously? Then who am I gonna fight there? It's gettin' kinda boring goin' up against you all the time, Jimmy."

_Speak for yourself. Luna's got a new bag o' tricks every time I fight 'er…_ Soul grumbled in his new deeper voice. He actually had to remind himself that the voice was his and not the voice of a stranger. Evolution was a strange and wondrous process, the young fire lizard had surmised.

"The good news is, we will be spared walking the entire way to Almond Town," June explained.

"Really?" Grey asked, intrigued. "Why's that?"

"About ten or so miles from here, there is a riverboat docking station. It is primarily used for trading purposes but it does offer passage for trainers at a reasonable price."

_Thank Arceus, _Rosewood said with her typical dramatic sigh. _I would've_ hated_ walking all the way to the next town._

_What the hell're you talkin' about? _Soul challenged incredulously. _Me 'n Sylva and the rest have to walk; you're riding your trainer's shoulders. Damn priss…_ Rosewood's response was a haughty scoff and upturn of her nose.

Without another word, the trainers started on their way. Sylva stuck close to June as usual and Rhea took up residence in her arms; Strabi appeared and, because Soul was now too big for the role, took up the mantle of Grey's newest head pet. Soul looked up at Strabi and frowned. That was another thing the charmeleon would miss - riding on Grey's shoulder.

Luna was to stay inside her ball because James felt it was too early in the day to try and reign her in and Heracross came out of his ball on his own, leisurely hoisting his trainer onto his shoulders.

"Ra cross," he hissed pleasantly.

"Thank you, Heracross," Rachel said with a grateful smile. James, noting that someone was missing, looked around and turned to her, asking,

"You're not going to let Lucy out?" The totally innocuous question raised a negative reaction in Rachel. That was all the answer James needed. He sighed in exasperation and forsook the question, instead opting to walk in silence.

"Lucy," she whispered. Her brother's first capture. Was he seriously just giving the buizel to her because of the reason he stated or was it because she was too weak for him to keep around?

"Am I honestly thinking this?" she berated herself. She shook the thought out of her head. Ridiculous. Grey was never that heartless, no matter what the circumstances were.

* * *

"I really don't wanna do this, Darry." Terry heaved a heavy sigh and leaned over the door of the jeep. The wind rushed past his hands and face at a thousand miles a second, disrupting his thoughts and further adding to his restlessness and unease.

"I know what you mean," Darrel sympathized. "Sonia was one of our best agents and she might have ditched us but do we really have to drag her back just to be punished?"

"Bah! You idjit, that's not what I meant!" Terry shouted. Darry blinked in confusion and raised an eyebrow at his friend.

"Then what _did_ you mean?" he asked.

"The kid; the kid! The one with the charmander! We were told to friggin' kill 'im! I can't kill a kid… I can barely hurt a fly…" Another sigh twice as mammoth as its forerunner escaped his mouth.

"Then you're in the wrong profession. And stop sighing; you'll catch flies," Darry admonished.

"Who're you, my mother? And where're we goin', anyway? This don't look like the way to Springbloom," Terry pointed out.

"It totally is," said Darry. In a futile attempt to defend himself, he added, "We're just… Taking a detour is all!" Terry gave him the deadest of deadpan looks but said nothing. His friend never was good at directions without a map. Too bad he vehemently refused to use them out of pride.

At that moment, their jeep had just emerged from the ever-verdant confines of the Mélange Woods. The sudden change in light was painful to their eyes but the two quickly adjusted to it in time to see a Gastly flying in the same direction as their jeep. Its path was curvy and erratic as if the Gas Pokémon were drunk. As it flew, it left a purple ribbon of poisonous vapors snaking in its wake.

"Darry, I'm pretty sure we _just_ drove through Mélange Woods. What the hell're you plannin'?" Terry asked suspiciously. Darry sighed and slowed the car to a halt.

"Okay," he conceded, "I admit we're lost… But we're not totally helpless!" He pointed to the blackish-purple dot that was the Gastly in the sky. "That thing's gotta belong to a trainer, right? We follow it and get directions!"

"If we'd've done that before, we wouldn't be in this mess, Darry. Jeez, sometimes yer so stubborn," chided Terry. The triumphant grin was wiped off Darry's face and was just as quickly replaced with a frown and creased brow.

"I told you I don't need directions!" he proudly objected. He started the car again and took off after the Gastly.

"Then why'd you just suggest we get some?" Terry asked with a devious, victorious smile. Darry grumbled something under his breath but did not retort. He had enough sense to know when he'd lost.

They followed the drunken Gastly for three more miles until they finally happened upon a dilapidated old-fashioned house smack dab in the middle of a crossroads. The Gastly, being a Ghost-type, phased through the walls of the house with a raspy bone chilling laugh. It was as if it was daring the two humans that'd followed him to enter the house.

Terry was getting some intensely bad vibes from the old construct let out his newly evolved Sandslash to bodyguard him. Despite having evolved, Sandslash was still a chicken and demonstrated it by fearfully curling up into a ball not one second after laying eyes on the house.

"Sandslash…" his trainer sighed in exasperation. Internally, he honestly couldn't blame his pokémon. The house's peeling paint, broken windows and ghostly flapping curtains didn't do anything to make it seem more inviting. The way it looked as if it were leaning ever-so-noticeably forward and coughing out ragged breaths of dust didn't help either.

"Darry, you sure someone lives in this place?" Terry asked his partner with uncertainty. "It looks kinda… Iunno, _dead._"

"Terry, you're being ridiculous," Darry retorted. He let out his Machoke while he spoke, drastically reducing the validity of his words. "It's just an old house."

"Yeah, an old house that looks like the scene of a murder or a horror flick or somethin'… If I die, I'm blamin' you," Terry announced. Darry scoffed and the two and their pokémon entered the house. Terry was on his guard while his Sandslash clung close to his leg. The man ignored the spikes digging into him and continued onward ready to run at a moment's notice. Machoke, confident that his new evolution would be enough to keep everyone safe, walked with a proud gait as he led the group. The ignorant Fighting-type was graciously spared the knowledge that he was being watched.

_Eheheheheh! Banette, yo, Banette, check this out! _Haunter tittered wildly from atop the stairs. _More humans; more humans! _The evolved Gas Pokémon's grin quickly faded. _Awww… No girls!_ Banette slapped him across the face.

_Ya pervert; don't go sayin' things like that! C'mon, let's take these two all for ourselves…_ Banette's eternal grin grew wider as she and Haunter made themselves invisible and stalked the two Regal grunts.

Darry took a look around the dimly lit living room trying to see if there were any signs of life in it. He noted a destroyed china cabinet in the corner that seemed to be missing a two-by-four as well as a giant hole in the center of the room. It was fairly obvious a battle had taken place here but between what, exactly?

"Hello?" Darry called out. "Is there anyone here? We're looking for directions!"

"Shh!" Terry hissed. "You're gonna wake it up!"

"Wake _what_ up?" Darry asked, annoyed.

"…I dunno… But whatever it is, it can't be good."

"Okay, then tell me what you think it is," Darry challenged. He crossed his arms across his chest and tapped his foot impatiently, making a hollow and creaky sound on the maggot-eaten planks. Terry threw his arms up and let out a loud groan of,

"Ain't it obvious?" He pointed to several holes in the walls and ceiling equal in size to the one in the floor as well as the china cabinet's discarded two-by-four which was awkwardly impaling the couch. "There's somthin' big and scary as shit in this place and yer gonna wake it up!"

"Slash; sandslash!" the Mouse Pokémon nodded fearfully.

"Your yelling isn't helping much if there is something like that in here," Darry responded extra cynically. He crossed the room a few times before deciding there was nothing there and heading for the door to the right. One push from Machoke and the chipped door fell off its hinges and kicked up a cloud of dust when it landed.

"Choke?" The Superpower Pokémon put on a look of curiosity and picked up the door only to have it snap in half like a toothpick between his powerful fingers.

"See? There isn't anything here," Darry said gesturing to the empty kitchen. "It's just as musty and as empty as the rest of this place. Come on; there's obviously nothing and nobody here, so let's just -"

"Aaah!" came the combined terrified screams of Terry and Sandslash. Darry grit his teeth and growled.

"If you two are trying to scare me, it isn't going to work! Now come on and let's go -"

"_BAAAAAAA!" _The earsplitting shriek reached a volume and pitch that equated pure torture for Darry's ears and twice that much for Machoke's. Trainer and pokémon guarded their ears from the din enveloping the house and forced their eyes open. A banette floated in front of them, its normally zipped-closed mouth wide open and blasting out a Screech attack to put subwoofers to shame. It then closed its mouth and loosed a Charge Beam at Machoke that sent the muscle-bound warrior careening through the wall.

"Machoke!" Darry cried out.

"'Machoke' nothin'; get this thing away from me!" Terry shouted. He and Sandslash were being doggedly hunted around the living room by a particularly rambunctious Haunter throwing Shadow Punches at them.

"Hold on, buddy, I got your back!" Darry didn't get to take one step before Banette's grinning face overtook his field of vision. The zipper on her mouth moved to open. Banette's yellow eyes glowed an unearthly gold and Darry had but a second to stare into their evil depths before everything else was drowned out by Screech.

* * *

People are strange creatures, the man decided as he boarded the canopied riverboat bound for Almond Town. Walking around, day after day, doing the same things over and over again. Don't they ever get bored, he'd asked himself. Then again, he was guilty of that which he'd noticed, so he was being a bit of a hypocrite in thinking that way. As if that'd stop him from thinking it anyway. Hypocrite or not, he knew one thing: people needed someone to guide them.

He took a seat, dropped his bag, released a leafeon from her poké ball and stroked her when she took up residence in his lap. The man rested an elbow on the edge of the boat and put his hand in his palm. His eyes glazed over as he became immersed in his thoughts and his stroking of his leafeon continued subconsciously.. At this point, nothing else in the world even registered a blip on his mental radar. Not the sun warming his arm. Not the smell of the grasslands. Not the thundering herds of pokémon that inhabited them. Not the teenager incessantly tapping his shoulder…

…Wait… What?

The man's eyes slid back into focus. He blinked a few times and remembered that something had pulled him out of his reverie. A few hours must have passed since he slipped into the world of the semiconscious, as the sun hung lower in the sky now. He looked to his right to see who'd been tapping him.

A boy of about fifteen with unruly hair as black as his own wearing goggles and glasses and a jacket with arcanine stripes. A charmeleon sat next to him, obviously his partner. Their aura was a bright flame red. Passionate, brave, and steadfast. The man saw great potential in this boy.

"Did you hear me? I said that's a nice leafeon ya got there. Where'd ya get her?" Grey asked. The man blinked again. The kid could tell his leafeon's gender with just a look? Curious…

"Yes, she is rather stunning, isn't she?" His voice was crisp and he enunciated perfectly. The man gave a small warm smile to his pokémon. She returned it in kind, closing her big brown eyes to nap once more. "How did you know she was a girl?" Grey laughed.

"Oh, that? I can kinda just tell, y'know? It's like I look at a pokémon and something about them just lets me read 'em," the young trainer explained. "At least a little bit. Sounds stupid, huh?"

"Haha, not at all." The man was suddenly much more lively now. "To be honest, it's the same way for me." This boy… The man suddenly got the feeling that they were very much alike. If that charmeleon of his was any sort of clue, he was most likely right.

"My name…is Lucas," he said politely, extending a hand. "Yours?"

"Grey," the boy said with a grin. "This here's Soul, my partner." The charmeleon gave a nod and a grunt.

"This is Solace," Lucas introduced his leafeon. Grey placed a hand on Solace's head and scratched behind her ears. She mewled contentedly and licked Grey's fingers.

"Hey, whaddaya know? She said she likes me." He can understand them, too? This was no mere coincidence; it had to be fate that he was meeting Grey right now. Then again, Solace's reaction easily betrayed the fact that she liked Grey, so he'd have to be certain. One more test.

"You can - ?"

"Understand them, yep," Grey finished for him.

"Let me guess, it's not so much their thoughts you understand. It's their emotions?" Lucas inquired tentatively. Grey nodded.

"Dude, I thought I was the only one. I didn't know other people could do it, too." Grey was honestly surprised and intrigued.

"No, everyone has the potential to do it." At the confused look on Grey's face, he elaborated further. "Everybody can understand pokémon like we do. Whether or not they attempt to use it or even acknowledge that they can at all is completely up to them."

"Heh, so that explains why my friends don't get it," Grey concluded. Noticing Lucas's worn green tee-shirt, cargo pants, and the poké balls clipped to his belt, Grey changed the subject. "You a trainer?"

"Was. Still am," Lucas corrected himself. "I'm just taking a break to see the sights in this region."

"Ahh, dude, you're missin' out!" Grey cried. "This place has got some seriously strong Gym Leaders!" He looked out at the water and gave a short laugh. "But, I'm still a rookie so I guess everyone's strong to me right now. Even some of the guys in front or behind us." Lucas suddenly remembered that the riverboat was more of a riverboat train considering it was hooked to two others of its kind, both filled with people.

"That may be but it's good to just take a breather once in a while," Lucas contended. "You know, you remind me a lot of myself back when I was first starting out." The riverboat was almost at its halfway point by now. "How many pokémon have you got so far?" Grey counted on his fingers.

"Three. Soul here, a shinx and an onix. I plan to catch more but first I have to start strategizing and build a potential team." Yet another similarity.

"You say you're a rookie but you're already thinking like a true trainer. Though, in the eyes of some, your method may seem a little cruel." Grey sighed.

"I know. But I can't just go around catchin' every pokémon I see. I wouldn't be able to take care of 'em all, so it'd make more sense just to build a team and make adjustments as I go along. Maybe catch a few backups, too," Grey explained. "I know I got a lot to learn, but, hey, if it means we can get stronger, then I'll do it."

"_He used 'we' instead of 'I',"_ Lucas observed.

"Ain't that right, partner?" Grey asked Soul.

"Charmeleon." Soul gave a grin that Grey easily matched and the two grasped each others' hands in a brotherly way.

"Heheh… We really are alike," chuckled the older trainer. Grey positively beamed.

"Ya mean it?" He was being compared to an obviously experienced trainer by said trainer. For a rookie like him, that was one of the highest honors.

"_More than you think..." _"Of course," he said outwardly. Lucas smirked to himself. The sun was now at an angle so that its rays hit Solace directly. She mewled again and wriggled in Lucas's lap before she began to glow faintly. Lucas never failed to notice her photosynthesis at work. His admiration was drawn away from his sparkling leafeon and towards the source of the loud, proud group trumpeting that came from the opposite side of the river.

"Aww, sweet!" Grey cheered. There was a murmur of intrigue buzzing among the riverboat passengers. The tourists of the group took out cameras and started click-click-flashing away at the donphan herd making a spectacle of themselves. The one with the biggest tusks, presumably the leader, recklessly charged forward and led his brethren down the plains. He didn't even flinch when he ran into a large rock and promptly turned it into rubble.

"Even sweeter!" Grey moved to pull out his Pokédex but Lucas beat him to it.

"Those are donphan," he said. "The -"

"Armor Pokémon." Lucas beat Dexter, but June beat Lucas. She turned in her seat in front of the two and recited: "The one with the biggest tusks is always the leader and they travel in herds. They are also exceedingly powerful. Just a Tackle attack from one can level a house. Sometimes they like to tuck and roll into wheels and travel that way and their skin is tough enough to withstand explosions."

"Very nice." Lucas actually applauded her. June tinged slightly pink.

"It was nothing," she said humbly. Without making it obvious, Lucas gave June a quick once-over. She was obviously smart but her aura - a bright yellowish-orange - bespoke naivety and a tendency for over enthusiasm as well as intelligence. She would be of no use.

"Damn, that's powerful," Grey said with a grin. "Now I wanna catch one of 'em."

"You already have Maverick," June reminded him, "and donphan are Ground-types."

"Having a Rock-and-Ground type is different from having a pure Ground-type," Grey rationalized. "Besides, I was planning on evolvin' Maverick into a steelix later on, anyway."

"Smart choice," commented Lucas. "Oh, look. We're at the halfway point."

Indeed they were. The boat captain confirmed it over the loudspeaker system and docked his vessel at a station identical to the one before. People slowly began to stream out of their seats to stretch their legs. Soul did the same and beckoned Grey to follow. Once off the train, Grey's words were cut at the roots by an outcry nearby. It went unheard to the general crowd; they kept flocking into the diner next to the docking station until only a handful remained.

"A friend of yours?" asked Lucas as he pointed to Jameson's back. The boy in blue was apparently confronting a blonde haired boy with sunglasses on his head. He looked familiar to Grey.

"The kid in blue is but I think I remember that other guy," Grey answered.

"I have never seen him before," June said with a shrug.

"Derek, it's been a while! I didn't know you were on the boat!" James said loudly. Then it clicked for Grey. Derek? That same kid with the squirtle? The one who'd snubbed Grey so rudely? When Grey matched the face to the name, he knew it was the very same boy. He approached his friend and Derek, shielding his eyes from the harsh afternoon sun. June went to go find Rachel and Lucas decided to stay back and watch with Solace in his arms.

"Heh, yeah, it has been, Jimmy boy. Miss me?" Derek asked. He kept one eye closed most likely due to the sunlight and held a toothpick in his mouth. A smirk adorned his thin face. Grey snickered a bit at the odd cowlick that stuck straight up from his otherwise flat head of hair.

"Aww, you know it!" James and Derek laughed and performed an elaborate handshake. Grey didn't even bother to keep up with it and instead made himself known.

"Hey, I remember you!"

"Huh?" Jameson finally noticed Grey's presence and grinned. "Oh, hey, guys, this is my friend Derek from back in Kanto. Well, he's from the Sevii Islands but we go way back."

"We've known each other since we were kids," Derek continued. Then he remembered Grey's face. "I remember you, too. Geo Path, right? The kid with the charmander." Then he noticed Soul's new form. "Charmeleon now. Nice."

"And you had the squirtle," Grey responded. "What're you doin' here?"

"Same as you; headed for Almond then Springbloom to take on the Gym Leader," Derek replied with a noncommittal shrug. "But right now, I need a new pokémon 'fore I can take 'im on."

"Really? What've you got in mind?" Jameson asked, finally getting back into the conversation.

"Rock-type," Derek grunted. "Word is there're rhyhorn runnin' 'round here and I wanted to catch one."

"What've you got so far?" chorused Grey and Jameson. Derek let out a cocky scoff and produced four poké balls. He opened them all, revealing an electrike, murkrow, heracross, and wartortle. James whistled, obviously impressed. Grey was too (especially so at the heracross) but he masked it with a derisive snort.

"Caught Electrike on the plains and Heracross in the Mélange Woods. I traded Aron for Murkrow and Wartortle's my starter," he reeled off. "Jimmy boy?"

"Still got my scyther and duskull and I recently caught a zangoose."

"Charmeleon, shinx, and onix," Grey said.

"Char!" Soul grunted.

"Tch. Decent, but you're still two behind me," ribbed Derek.

"You still only have four," James pointed out. Derek's smirk grew wider and his open eye glinted. He said nothing, recalling all but Wartortle and stalked off into the grass. Intrigued, the other two boys followed behind him until he motioned for them to stop. A herd of rhyhorn grazed about a hundred feet away. Derek got to work picking out a good target, preferably one furthest away from the main herd.

"That one," he muttered referring to the one closest to him. Taking out an empty ball, he commanded his pokémon, "Wartortle, Water Pulse then blast it with Water Gun."

Wartortle wasted no time sending the shimmering orb rocketing into rhyhorn, thoroughly catching it off guard and confusing it. Rhyhorn staggered and grunted and swayed in a daze after that potent double-whammy and was promptly doused by a continuous stream of Water Gun. While Wartortle kept up his assault, Derek casually flicked the ball at Rhyhorn. The ball stopped moving in two shakes. Derek made it look as simple as that.

"Hope you guys took notes," Derek said triumphantly. He spun the poké ball on one finger and placed it on his belt with the others.

"Nice," James congratulated. "You still got it."

"That wasn't so impressive," Grey muttered with a wave of his hand.

_Anybody coulda done that, _Soul muttered jealously. Wartortle just looked his way and smirked to himself. Jameson shot Grey a glare so sharp it put his scyther's blades to shame. Nevertheless, he held his tongue.

"Okay, so you got a rhyhorn. Big deal; I'm gonna get a donphan sooner or later."

"A donphan, eh?" Derek's interest had been captured. "Ya mean like the one who blasted through that rock like it was nothin'?"

"The very same."

"Good luck; yer better off catchin' one as a phanpy and evolving it," Derek advised. "Sometimes, donphan can get pretty vicious."

"Oh…" Grey hadn't considered that. "Well, in that case, maybe you're right." Derek shrugged it off and laughed, turning back to the docking station. He and James caught up with one another the whole way there leaving Grey at the back to think about exactly how and where he was going to catch a phanpy.

"Well, Jim, it was nice seein' ya, but I'm gonna head to Almond on foot from here so's I can train Rhyhorn. See ya in Springbloom." Derek and James did their handshake again and hugged one another before parting ways.

"You're not gonna battle him? That's not like you, Grey," chided James.

"You kiddin'?" Grey asked incredulously. "I know when I'll lose a battle and he had five pokémon. I'm not dumb, dude."

"Smart choice," Lucas repeated, suddenly showing up behind the two boys. "The boat is about to leave, Grey. It's time we get on it."

"Oh, right. James, this is Lucas. Lucas, my friend James," Grey said.

"Nice to meet you." James shook Lucas's hand, giving him the perfect opportunity to scan his aura. Forest green, an aura bespeaking maturity and level-headedness. But Lucas sensed something else. Could it possibly be a hint of a complex of some kind? Oh, this would not do at all. This boy was holding Grey back.

* * *

The boat stopped a few miles away from the riverside village of Almond Town. A quaint little place with small houses, an abundance of shops, a cobblestone street, and a farmer's market in the center of town. Almond Town was separated by the thinnest part of the Cloud River running straight down the middle, so high bridges were built to help people get from one side to the next.

"Or at least, that's what it says on the brochure," Rachel muttered.

"They couldn't just drop us off in town? We're, like, six miles away!" Grey complained. "Whatever; I guess this lets me do some training."

"And I can further my research!" came June's bubbly input.

"Actually, June, Almond Town's library is kind of small, so…" Grey left the sentence hanging after he saw June's face fall like a sack of hammers.

"Awww," she whined.

"Well, I'm gone," Rachel said. "Come on, Vulpix." She picked the little fox pokémon up and started off towards town. "I'm going to accept a few odd jobs or missions around here. Stay out of trouble." She stressed that point and directed it at Grey.

"Oh, shut up. I can handle myself just fine," Grey said under his breath. Soul scoffed out fire in agreement with Grey and James glared at them again. How immature can they be, he asked himself. June muttered something about inadequate references and followed behind the older girl. The boys waited until Rachel was a good hundred feet away before advancing. James took that time to pull Grey off to the side and confront him.

"Dude, what was that back there with Derek?" he asked critically. His face sported a deep frown and his eyes were narrowed in suspicion.

"What? What're you talkin' about?" Grey scowled and turned his eyes away from Jameson. He looked around towards the crowd moving closer to Almond Town. He was looking for Lucas but it looked as if the man had already gotten to town.

"You know what I'm taking about. When he caught that rhyhorn. You were jealous and you tried to downplay it. How much of a kid are you?"

"Who're you to talk? You're only a year older than me and, last time I checked, that didn't make you an adult. Why're you on my case about this anyway?" Grey countered. Jameson honestly had no answer and Soul knew it by the looks of the face he gave the older boy.

"You need to stop acting like such a little kid, Grey. Why didn't you congratulate Derek?"

"Because he was lordin' it over our heads like he was better than us or somethin'!" Grey shouted. "Dude, I'm done with this." Grey stalked off not paying attention to where he was going.

"You do the same thing!" James called after him.

"No, I don't!" Grey shouted.

_No, he doesn't!_ Soul said at the same time.

"You act cocky all the time!"

"Actin' cocky is different than what he did. First time I met him, I challenged him and he snubbed me out like I insulted his mother," Grey said. He was quickly getting fed up with this.

_Yeah, and I'm a witness!_ Soul said stubbornly, shaking his fist. Jameson stopped in his tracks.

"He did?" he asked uncertainly. "Well, Derek gets like that sometimes. No biggie."

"James, seriously, just drop it. If you're still mad at me for fighting with my sister, then fine, but don't use stuff like this to avoid talkin' about it." James flinched. So Grey _wasn't_ as oblivious as he made him out to be. He heaved a sigh.

"You're right. I'm sorry," he submitted. Grey visibly relaxed.

"Why're you so ticked about that, anyway? It's not like siblings don't fight all the time." He leaned on the wood fence they'd walked towards without noticing.

"It's just…." Jameson turned his gaze downward and shifted uncomfortably.

"Just what?" Grey pressed.

_C'mon, spit it out, Jimmy. Just like this,_ Soul said encouragingly. He spat out a few large embers to demonstrate. James's eyes grew as wide as dinner plates.

"Fire…" he breathed.

"What?" Grey raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, fire; Soul's a charmeleon. Duh, dude."

"No, Grey, I mean fire! Behind you! Soul set that barn on fire!" James frantically pointed behind Grey and Grey turned around to see he was right; Soul's harmless firebreathing had lit a barrel of grain on fire and said barrel was in contact with a barn.

"Shit! When did that barn get there?" Grey yelled. "Fire! Hey, fire!"

"Fire?" came a distraught adult voice. "Luanne, get Quagsire! Torchic set the barn ablaze again!" In a flash, a tall farmer dressed in overalls and an orange shirt sprinted out of the house near the barn with a quagsire waddling behind him. He kept a gloved hand on his hat so he wouldn't lose it as he ran.

The blaze began to spread and a flock of torchic frantically scrambled out of the barn door right after a tauros blasted his way through in a panic and started bucking like crazy.

"Oh, we are so dead!" James groaned.

"Quagsire, Mud Bomb, dammit! Make it a good one!" the farmer commanded. Quagsire responded by making a puddle of mud in front of him with a water burst and using his tail to flick it up at the blaze. Within seconds, the fire had been reduced to small patches that were easily put out with a few quick bursts of Water Gun. All those present heaved a sigh of relief and the farmer moved on to try and calm his tauros.

"Listen, sir, I am so sorry; my charmeleon -"

"This was you two's fault?" the farmer shouted. "Aw, hell in a hand basket! Tauros, get _down!_" He grabbed the Wild Bull Pokémon's horns and forced him to the ground in a display of prodigious strength. The farmer then rounded on the boys, face set into an angry frown and brow creased like the folds of an accordion.

"Guys?" Grey asked.

"Yeah?" James whimpered.

"We're screwed, aren't we?"

"Char char…"

* * *

**Oh, I do so love putting my characters in these situations. It's so much fun. Not a lot of battling in this chapter; it was more of a transition from Mélange Town to Almond Town to "holy crap, there's an pissed off juggernaut farmer about to wring out necks". There will be action in the next chapter, though!**

**Oh, and I'd like to thank all of you guys for the reviews and OC submissions once more. And to my newest reviewer, X (I'll call you Mystery Reviewer X for now), what would you consider to be 'bad language'? I'll totally cut it down if it makes reading this more enjoyable for you. Just leave a list in your next review and I'll get right on that.**

**There's 6 more chapters until James faces the Springbloom Gym Leader and 9 until Grey does. There'll also be one chapter in which the group decides to hang back in Springbloom for a bit longer before continuing. Lots of mysterious mysteries and character development there. Until then, you guys know the drill. Thanks again :D**

**CHAPTER PREVIEW**

James: Grey, what'd you get us into?

Grey: Hey, don't look at me. It was Soul's fault!

Soul: Char? Char char me!

James: Ugh, whatever. I guess fixing this guy's barn and working on his farm for a while is only fair. But, man, do these guys have a bug problem.

Grey: Whaddaya expect? We're in the middle of the grasslands and they say bugs like to hang around this place.

James: Bug-types like to live closer to the Springbloom Meadows, Grey. It's weird that they'd come all the way here.

Grey: So we do this guy a favor by doin' a little pest control and maybe he'll let us off early! Perfect plan!

James: Somehow, I don't think that'll work…

James and Grey: Next time on _Challenger!:_ Furious Swarm: Bug-type Battle in Almond Town!

Grey: Stay tuned for more!

**A/N: That's another thing. You guys think I should get rid of the chapter previews or keep them?**


	16. Furious Swarm in Almond Town

**Would you look at that? Two reviews not twenty minutes after posting chapter fifteen. Thank you X and Something dictionary related. You guys rock. Also, as per X's request, I'll work on cutting down the swearing from here on out. Tell me how I do.**

**I think I'll start doing chapter recaps for you guys, too, since most readers skip through to the latest chapter whenever an update occurs. I think it'll help you guys get caught up or remember something in case one of you gets to a certain part in the chapter and goes "Wait, when did this happen?"**

**Well, here we go!**

**Disclaimer:**I am sorry to say that I do not own Pokémon. In any way. Now excuse me while I go cry over that.

KEY:

"normal speech"

"_thought"_

_translated pokémon speech_

"blah blah blah _emphasis _blah blah blah"

**Pokédex Entries**

* * *

**Chapter 016: **Furious Swarm in Almond Town I

"Day three. Test number twenty of the Frequency Net. So far, all other attempts have been successful but due to Team Regal policy on thorough testing, we have five more attempts before we can consider this a victory," the admin drawled, obviously bored to tears with this his assignment.

"Ridiculous," he muttered bitterly. "I should be out on real missions, not testing this hunk of scrap metal. No matter its importance to the organization." He cast a sweeping glance over the immediate area for the twentieth time in a row to make sure everything was in order. His team of six guards and three technicians were stationed in the Mélange Woods, at the edge closest to the many farms that fringed Almond Town. The trees here were thin and let in much more of the midmorning sunlight than did their bigger counterparts further into the woods. The admin was thankful for that. If there was one thing he hated more than field testing, it was field testing in the dark where none of his idiot subordinates knew their heads from their asses.

Three heavy-duty generators were linked up to a high-tech console big enough for all three technicians to work at simultaneously. Singed Bug-type Pokémon of every species lay unconscious on the ground at the field team's feet and the pungent odor of burning grass and wood overpowered the smell of morning dew. Standing sentinel beside the admin was a magmortar, still as a statue but with a devilish smirk on its bulbous lips and a smoking arm cannon. The grass around it was still aflame as were a few of the Pokémon.

"Sir, we are almost ready to begin testing," called one of the guards from his post. The admin nodded curtly and looked at the technicians.

"Well?" he snapped. "Are you finished yet?" The machine operators stayed silent under the admin's annoyed glare. Putting the finishing touches on the Frequency Net's programming, they finally stood back and their leader, a balding man with a beard consuming two-thirds of his face, gave the admin a slight nod. The magmortar's trainer responded with a thin-lipped sneer and gave the order.

"Initiate Frequency Net!"

One of the technicians pressed a button on the console and retrieved a handheld device from it. He handed it to his leader and quickly bowed out while the admin started it up. A few deft keystrokes later and the admin held the device above his head as it began to emit a high pitched vibrating ring from its two antennae. Magmortar visibly flinched but held his ground. Show no weakness, he'd been taught. That fear and weakness made one pathetic and undignified had been drilled into his head ever since he was a magby and he dare not disgrace his trainer. Not after all he'd done for magmortar.

A full minute later, the downed Bug-types limply rose to their feet, fully awake but like marionettes on strings. A discordant symphony of buzzing and groaning rose into the sky and the admin took it in as if being serenaded. He stepped forward towards the strongest bug in the bunch, a particularly enraged pinsir, heedless of its angry face and the rabid way it was spitting and hissing, and pointed towards a tree.

"Reversal," he said simply. Against its own will, the pinsir's body moved jerkily towards the tree and took it in its horns before bending backwards in a suplex maneuver, ripping it straight out of the ground with immense strength. Pinsir moved away from the tree and turned back to face the admin, fury burning in its eyes. How dare the human exercise such control over it! Its pride was severely hurt and it vowed that the moment it was freed from the grasp of that infernal ringing, it'd avenge its pride by doing exactly to the admin what it'd done to that tree.

"Angry at me, are you?" the admin sneered. His face hardened in a second. "Well, that's too bad. You are nothing more than a tool - a guinea pig upon which I test this Frequency Net. Know your place, insect." His subordinates bit back protests. The admin turned to his magmortar, vicious authority melting into genuine concern.

"Are you alright, old friend?" he asked. Magmortar nodded. "Good. I can't have my star player in ant sort of negative condition," he said, nodding at the bug pokémon. "It's a good thing the frequency cancellers in your ears work."

"Maguma…" agreed the pokémon.

"Pack up for the day. We continue tomorrow," the admin barked. "Come now, I don't have all day!" The subordinates set to work with a synchronized cry of,

"Yes, Sir William!" Behind their obedience lay a burning dislike for their captain, the man who'd attempt to break them and their pokémon at each and every turn. If given the chance, each and every one of them would leave him out to dry in a second. But William cared not. As a top ranking Team Regal official, he knew he was above them all. Stronger than them all. Superior to them all.

He was untouchable both in battle and in politics. And that's just how he liked it.

* * *

The sun beat down on the boys' heads mercilessly as they toiled in its relentless heat. It was almost as if the sun itself were punishing them and, judging from the cloudless day, the sky seemed to be just fine with that. A group of diglett and dugtrio raced by tilling the empty field chanting incessantly as they worked.

"Diglett dig, diglett dig!"

"Trio trio trio!"

After the group of Mole Pokémon passed, a donphan herd followed using Rollout to separate the ground into rows. After that, the boys had to drag around hundred-pound bags of seed and sow the newly tilled land. The Clubs Ranch truly was a testament to how pokémon and humans were capable of working together. Admirable, but Grey and Jameson could do without the nerve-grating diglett chatter and backbreaking work. Damned tail-flames, Grey would bitterly think as he spread seeds. But he really couldn't protest; he _had _almost burned down the ranch's barn. That didn't stop him from complaining, though.

At least one good thing came out of being forced to repay Lyle the farmer through labor. Grey and Jameson had met a new companion named Baxter who was in a similar situation to theirs. His cyndaquil, Smokey, had been attempting to use Flame Wheel and had careened into a bale of hay. Needless to say, Lyle was not amused.

Meeting Baxter wasn't exactly the smoothest ride, either. Because of the fact that he wasn't exactly the most masculine character and had soft-looking pink hair _and_ had the build of a flat-chested girl, there was gender confusion right out of the starting gate. That led to a particularly awkward situation where Grey, tactless as he was, actually asked Baxter if he was a girl. Baxter responded by punching him in the face.

"Alright, boys, that's enough for now!" Lyle called from his seat some tens of yards away. "Come back in and take a break! Donphan, Diglett, and Dugtrio, y'all come back, too!"

"Finally!" Grey stood up straight and wiped the sweat from his brow. Untying the arms of his jacket from around his hips and stretching, he said through his straining, "We were working for hoooours!"

"We must've sown at least ten acres," Jameson said in a low voice, stretching out his tired arms and back. "I'm gonna be feeling this pain for a while."

A few donphan stomped past him, some trumpeting, some tired, and some aching for more work. Grey got down next to one of the donphan to her head and se nuzzled him with her trunk before following her small herd of eight back to the barn. Nearby, Baxter put his black wifebeater back on and took a swig from his water bottle. Leaving the seed bags behind, the boys left their work behind.

On the porch of the farmhouse, Lyle's wife Luanne was busy pouring lemonade for the boys when they emerged from the waist-high cornfield while their teenaged son David admired the assorted pokémon. Lyle's quagsire was splashing around in the little pond in front of the house; Sniper and Luna were told to stay back so as not to get up to their respective brands of trouble and Maverick was a few feet away curled up in the sun. All of Baxter's pokémon - a spearow, cyndaquil, riolu, and misdreavus - were out of their poké balls. In an extremely unexpected display of bravery, Shishi of all pokémon decided to play Casanova and flirt with Pearl, Baxter's misdreavus, while Soul and Strabi watched with amusement from atop Maverick's head.

"Hey, thanks again, guys. For nearly burning down the barn," David snickered. Grey shot him a tired glare but he continued on rather cheekily, "You guys saved me a whole day's worth of work."

"Now, now, David, don't tease them," Luanne admonished while handing Grey a glass. "I can just send you back inside and you won't be playing with any pokémon." David opened his mouth to protest but though better of it under his mother's warning glance. Grey snickered evilly, hiding it well behind his lemonade, and went over to stand by his pokémon.

"I can't tell you how much we appreciate you three paying us back," Luanne said, shifting her attention to the other two boys and handing each a cup. "Most other people would've ran away."

"It's no problem, Ms. Luanne," Baxter said amiably. His voice was that of an androgyne's but had an odd lilting quality to it. "It's the least we could do."

"Weird how we both ended up here cuz our pokémon set somethin' on fire." Grey laughed and handed his half-full glass of lemonade to Soul who downed it graciously. "Funny, huh?"

"Speak for yourself," James deadpanned. "I don't even own a Fire-type. This was all you, buddy." Grey's face fell but he quickly set it back to normal.

"Nice setup you got here, Lyle," Baxter said. "I wouldn't mind leading a quiet life like yours." Lyle chuckled heartily.

"Not so quiet with so many pokémon running around." He gestured to his donphan and diglett herds.

"So, what were you three doing so far away from the big city?" asked David. "Ya don't really look like country boys." Grey loudly voiced the trainers' shared thought before the other boys could even answer

"We're Pokémon Trainers!" he declared proudly.

"Came out here because Almond Town is the nearest place to stop and restock in before the trip to Springbloom City," Jameson explained. "We were just about to head into town yesterday until, well…"

"You nearly burned down his barn," Baxter finished, chuckling. "Don't worry, I've been working for Lyle for the past two days so I know how you feel."

"_I_ didn't burn the barn down; _Grey_ did," Jameson insistently corrected.

"Well, whatever the circumstances, you boys are alright to stick around and clean up your mess like real men," Lyle commended. "Thank you for that. We'll get back to work in an hour so long as the bugs don't come back." That caught Grey's ear.

"Bugs?" the dark-haired trainer asked. "Ya mean bug pokémon?"

"Mhm. It really is dreadful," Luanne said with a downcast look. "Lately, the ranches 'round here have had their crops raided by a swarm of bug pokémon. We're victims, too."

"Dude, that sucks," Grey groaned. "And you guys work so hard here, too."

"It's a pain in my ass is what it is," growled Lyle, wiping his bald head with a handkerchief. "Every week or so, they come in and cut down my corn fields and chow down on a free snack. See, we got these torchics here to help fend 'em off but they're too weak to do any real damage. And it's a whole mess of those damn pests, too."

"Kinda sounds like what happened to Danny back in Mélange Woods. Are the bugs in this area starved for food or something?" theorized James.

"But you guys have the donphan herd, too," Baxter pointed out. "Don't any of them know a Rock-type attack?" Smokey waddled up to him and squeaked a bit, asking to be picked up. Baxter put the Fire Mouse Pokémon atop his head, secretly thankful that his cyndaquil masked his pink hair.

"I'm a farmer, not a trainer, Baxter. Don't know anything 'bout no type advantages and all that." Lyle heaved a sigh.

"Dad, you got a couple of trainers right here!" David shouted his suggestion like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"He's right, dear. And they are indebted to you. Why not enlist their help?" Luanne suggested.

"They're already workin' off their debt through labor. I can't ask that of 'em. It'd be selfish of me," Lyle said, his weathered and tanned face dead-set stubborn.

"Aw, dad, you're as hard-headed as an onix!" giggled David.

_Aye, I take offense to that, _Maverick rumbled. He punctuated his statement with a low roar before going back to being dead to the world. _Eh, he's just a brat. Barely older than Grey…_

_Sucks to be you, old man. No respect,_ Baxter's spearow, Commander, laughed airily. She twisted around in the air and showily landed on the rock snake's horn to preen her wings.

_You wanna be dinner, bird? _Maverick growled in response. _Keep showin' disrespect and I'll have the lizard roast you. _Soul flashed a dangerous grin, embers seeping through his teeth.

"Maverick, be nice," Grey told his pokémon. He then turned to Lyle and said, "Well, if you don't wanna ask us to do it, then we'll do it on our own. Provided we get off early." Lyle shook his head but the boys were persistent.

"Can't let all your hard work go to waste," James said picking up on Grey's conspicuous aim and masking his own with a sensible tone. "Don't worry about it, Lyle."

"Yeah, what they said," Baxter said simply.

"No. I can't ask that of you when yer already doin' this. You boys just stick to sowing the field and we'll be square," Lyle said. All three trainers mentally cursed. They were stuck working whether they wanted to or not.

"Alright then," Grey sighed. The plan had failed but at least he tried, he figured. "If you say so, Lyle. But, man, are you missin' out on a quick 'n easy pest control." James stifled a groan and Baxter chuckled to himself as Grey stood up and stretched.

"I'm gonna go hang out in the barn. Soul, Strabi, be good."

"He's completely incorrigible, isn't he?" Baxter asked, smirking. James's answer was a simple but heavy sigh.

* * *

The warehouse was a scene of untamed chaos: pokémon attacks flew left and right as trainers barked orders and a tumult of voices dominated the air. Commands, shouts, and grunts of pain were most common. The commotion was caused by a sting operation ordered and executed by the local police district. They had found a Team Regal riverside warehouse filled with pilfered goods and pokémon alike and could have probably taken the job on easily by themselves but, just to be sure, they had hired a Pokémon Ranger as back-up.

Their money was well-spent, thought the police chief, because they were easily overtaking the grunts stationed to guard the warehouse. Pokémon Rangers were scarily efficient at their jobs. He certainly didn't envy their targets.

Rachel ducked under the Regal grunt's punch and counterattacked with a deft kick to his stomach. He crashed back first into a block of crates and swore loudly. Doubled over clutching his stomach like he was about to vomit, he kept his head up, eyes hatefully glaring at the young woman who had already dispatched three of his familiars. Rachel did not back down and instead pointed a commanding finger at him.

"Vulpix, Confuse Ray!" she barked in the voice of a trained soldier. Vulpix jumped up from behind her owner, tails flared out and teeth bared threateningly. The Fox Pokémon locked incandescent blue eyes with the pained grunt, firing chaotic vibes into his mind. The grunt's own eyes glazed over, his face going slack and a stream of drool streaming from the corner of his mouth. Rachel took that opening to rush the grunt and slam drive her knee into his chin.

"Good, Vulpix, your skills are still as sharp as ever," said Rachel, never once dropping focus.

Out from behind a set of crates another grunt jumped with a knife in hand. A houndour howled at his sides and leapt at Rachel, bared fangs aimed for her jugular. In a flash, Rachel ducked his wild slash, took his arm and kneed him in the elbow. A slight crack rang out and the knife clanged as it hit the warehouse floor, sounds that were drowned under the much louder screaming of the grunt.

"Lucy, Aqua Jet!" Rachel commanded. Grey's former Buizel leapt at Rachel's call, abandoning the zubat she'd just knocked out and willing her water cloak into existence. She slammed into the dumbstruck houndour and knocked it right out of consciousness. Lucy grinned proudly at Rachel. She hadn't regretted her decision to join Rachel; this was just what she wanted. It was close enough to being a Trainer's pokémon without the constant battling and the adrenaline high was icing on the cake.

"Gotta admit, Lucy, you catch on quick to my line of work," Rachel said. She smiled slightly at the buizel. Lucy was spirited and determined and fast; just the kind of pokémon Rachel needed on her team. She had to remember to thank Grey. That is after she swallowed that old Thomas family pride.

"You bi-" the grunt began before Rachel kicked him in the stomach to knock him out.

"Didn't you mother ever teach you to be nice to girls?" Rachel quipped. An impressed whistle cut through the air as the sounds of resisting grunts substantially lessened.

"Nice work. Thank you again, Ms. Thomas," the deep-voiced regional police chief said in earnest. He was an older man with blonde hair that was just beginning to go gray at the roots and in his moustache dressed in standard police garb.

"These jerks have been causing trouble all over the place. Stealing pokémon; extortion; illegal import/export; you name it and they've done it. But we finally shut down this branch of their operation but good." Rachel smiled at him and signaled Heracross to take the two grunts he was carrying to the squad cars outside the warehouse.

"Think nothing of it, Chief Sanders," Rachel said with trained humility. "It's my job as a ranger." Heracross trudged back in and plopped down lethargically beside Vulpix. He was heavily fatigued and the Mega Punch bruise he'd endured from one of the grunts' hariyama was really going to sting in the morning.

"But I do have one question," Rachel stated.

"Fire away," Chief Sanders invited. "Hey, Rogers, make sure you get the stolen pokémon back into their balls and to the Centre, alright!" A far off grunt was his reply. "Sorry; what were you saying?"

"It's okay. I was wondering…" She hesitated, unsure of how to continue. "I mean… Who _are _these guys?" Chief Sanders put on a bemused face.

"Isn't that obvious?" he asked.

"Well, yes and no." When his expression grew more confused, Rachel continued,

"See, I ran into two of them a while back on my way to Mélange Town and it's been bugging me ever since. At first I thought they were just petty pokémon thieves who dressed funny but now it seems like something a lot bigger than just that." Sanders rubbed his head and let out a long, drawn out sigh.

"Man, you rangers are a lot more perceptive than we give you credit for over here," he muttered. Rachel forced down a proud smile in favor of professionalism.

"Standard training, sir," she said simply.

"Well, seeing as these guys are getting bigger, it'd make sense that you'd want to know," he submitted. "You could use the info to keep safe."

_So we finally get to know who these soldier-looking loonies are, _Vulpix said._ Maybe we can use this information._

_I'd prefer if we just avoided them. I really don't like being forced to fight,_ Heracross lamented.

_Then you're lucky Rachel caught you,_ Vulpix said wryly.

"See, these guys call themselves 'Team Regal'." The officer put air quotes around the name. "I know, stupid name, right? But don't let that fool you; they mean business. They don't use conventional weapons like guns or anything since they prefer using pokémon -" Rachel's face contorted in disgust "- and they operate outside the law as a means to get funds."

"Is that why they used this warehouse?" Rachel asked, taking a look around. "To smuggle goods in and out of the region?"

"Exactly. Most of what's in here is some highly illegal and addictive substances they sell to the mainland regions but word has it they have corporate spies that send unfinished prototypes to the highest bidder. On top of all of that, they've been stealing, selling, and abusing pokémon wherever they can get their grimy mitts on them, be they wild or trained."

_Those disgusting pigs!_ Lucy screeched.

_Sick bastards…_ Vulpix growled.

_Oh, if Mudkip were here, _chuckled Heracross. Vulpix sighed, not even bothering to shoot the Bug-type the glare she felt coming. If Vulpix had had hands, she would have smacked herself for that verbal slipup.

"That's terrible!" Rachel said, appalled. "Why would -"

"We don't know," Sanders said regretfully. "Listen, if you want my advice, stay far away from these mooks. You said you were traveling around with your little brother, right? A trainer boy?"

"Yes." Rachel shifted her eyes downward.

"If you care about him, relay that message to him. Nobody wants to see that happen to their pokémon." Rachel nodded and Sanders smiled warmly at her. "Again, you did great out here. Whoever taught you did it right."

"He would have been ecstatic to hear you say that," Rachel said. She broke out in a wide grin when childhood memories of training with her father floated to the surface of her mind.

"Your pay's back at the precinct. Pick up a little extra for a job well done," Sanders told her. He turned to his troops to see that the cleanup was all done and walked off. "Come on, Mightyena, let's go for a bagel."

"Grawr!"

"Well, guys, I guess that's it for today." Rachel laced her fingers together and stretched until she felt her vertebrae pop soothingly. "Let's head back." She turned to leave but was stopped by Chief Sanders.

"Wait!" he cried.

"What is it?"

"You're a Pokémon Ranger. Why do you keep your buizel and heracross in poké balls?" Rachel wordlessly stopped in her tracks, shuddered audibly, and kept on walking, a slump now present in her stance.

"Was it something I said, Mightyena?"

"Gararawr."

"Yeah, me neither."

* * *

Grey felt at peace in the barn. Most likely because he was surrounded by pokémon and their pleasant chatter but that specific never occurred to him. He was content to just watch them interact. Ponyta and rapidash were holed up in the stables talking. Three miltank stood around a bushel of berries and hay happily munching away and the donphan were in neatly ordered lines at their troughs. A few scattered torchic ambled around the barn playfully pecking and chirping at Lyle's napping tauros.

"And none of these guys are trained?" Grey asked no-one. "That's a real shame." He shrugged away the thought and approached the donphan herd to kneel down next to them on the straw and dirt ground. They truly were impressive pokémon and much more docile than Derek had said they would be.

"Then again, I guess that's cuz these guys are domesticated and not wild like the ones I saw," Grey reasoned. "Also, why am I talking to myself…?"

"Pha phaan," the lead donphan grunted amiably at the boy. Grey smiled back and decided it was high time he scan some of the pokémon he'd never seen before. He stood up and took another look around the room. The only two pokémon he'd never seen before were miltank and torchic so he took the Pokédex out of his pocket and pointed it at the little firebird pokémon.

**Torchic, the Chick Pokémon. Torchic are young pokémon, naturally curious about the world. But they are also very inexperienced and require constant guidance at this stage. With unsteady steps, this pokémon follows its parent or trainer around curiously and without hesitation. They have been known to spit out high-temperature fireballs from the internal sac in which they keep their flame. If given a hug, a Torchic will feel warm and cuddly.**

**Gender: Male**

Grey lowered the Pokédex. One of the torchic had broken off from its group and was staring at him with its head cocked to the side and wide, curious eyes. Grey bent down and held a hand out towards the chick and a rush of emotions was welcomed into his mind. Curiosity, tentativeness, and an odd sense of maturity made themselves most prevalent.

"You're a boy, huh?" Grey flashed a friendly smile. "My name's Grey and I - dhack!" From out of the blue, something small and very heavy like a large shot put sledge-hammered into his side. Whatever it was, it was actually strong enough to send him flying into the stack of hay that broke his fall.

"Tor?" Torchic blinked in confusion at the rambunctious little phanpy that mowed down Grey unprovoked. Phanpy drew in a large breath and shrilly trumpeted in its apparent victory.

_Yes! Another foe defeated by the amazing Donte!_ the phanpy bellowed.

_Why did you do that? _Torchic asked him. _He was a nice enough guy._

_Nice or not, I'm close to evolving. I need as much practice as possible so I can join the others! He was just another target to me,_ Donte chuckled maniacally. Torchic said nothing and instead shook his head in exasperation. Donte was known for his over enthusiasm but he was beginning to border insanity.

"It think it bruised my freakin' ribs!" Grey cried. He dug himself out of the hay pile while using one hand to massage his injured side. His eyes set upon one of the five phanpy that he was sure wasn't there a second ago and scanned it.

**Phanpy, the Long Nose Pokémon. The pre-evolved form of Donphan. Its long ears are used to fan itself on hot days and it shows a slight resistance to water, shown by their tendency to frolic in it and sleep in vertical pits dug in riverbanks. Phanpy are small in stature but possess incredible strength that they are mostly unaware of as a result of their youth. This species is capable of carrying adult humans on their backs and launching objects much larger and heavier than themselves with their trunks.**

**Gender: Male **

"Well, that explains why that _hurt _so damn bad." Grey groaned and rubbed his side gingerly. "Wait! You evolve into donphan!"

_That's right._ Donte turned his tiny trunk proudly upwards. Grey grinned and his hand flew to his side for one of the empty poké balls he kept there but he was interrupted by someone calling for him. Grey grit his teeth, deliberating between catching the phanpy or going to address the cry. His conscience won in the end, and he reluctantly put the poké ball away to run outside.

"What's goin' on?" he asked urgently when he stopped in front of quagsire's pond. Immediately, he noticed the absence of Baxter, James, and their Pokémon and the presence of a new familiar figure. Cradling his leafeon and talking quite animatedly to Lyle and David was Lucas, a friendly smile and bright eyes making him more approachable. Lyle let out a booming laugh at a joke Lucas told before nodding and moving towards the barn. He stopped next to Grey and clapped a hand on the boy's shoulder, grinning.

"Kid over there says he knows you," he said, laughter still in his voice. "He wanted to talk to you and I said it was okay so long as you're back here to pay off your debt."

"Really?" Grey raised an eyebrow and his mouth twisted into a bemused frown. Half of him wondered what Lucas wanted to talk to him about and the other half thanked the Legendaries for the man's impeccable timing. "What about?"

"Dunno," Lyle said truthfully. He shrugged and continued into the barn. "Somethin' about pokémon training so I guess it's important to ya. Go on, then!"

"Kaaay…" Grey approached Lucas as Luanne darted back into the house muttering something he didn't bother to catch. David was practically bouncing around in excitement while Lucas was knelt down in front of Strabi inspecting her with the trained eyes of a critic. He hummed, satisfied, and rose to his full height before looking at Grey.

"Thought I'd find you here," he said jovially. "How goes it, Grey?"

"About as well as you'd think," the younger trainer replied. He brightened, slightly honored that Lucas would come just to check on him. "Accidentally set a barn on fire and now I'm payin' for it in sweat. You?"

"I came around to see how you were progressing. You said you were going to capture a donphan while we were on the boat and this is the only place with any for miles around." Lucas motioned Grey to Lyle's porch and sat down himself. David darted over and sat unnervingly close to him leaving Grey to sit on the railing and be joined by Soul moments later.

"I'll be frank with you, Grey," began Lucas, tone serious. "I see great potential in you as a Pokémon Trainer. Your partner is a living testament to that." At that, Grey's face shone with pride and Soul grinned widely.

"You really mean it?" the raven-haired boy asked eagerly, eyes positively gleaming. "I mean, I know I'm a rookie now but do you seriously mean it?"

"Of course," Lucas confirmed. "I have never been wrong about these kinds of things before and -"

"Ah, this guy?" David, who had somehow been silent in his fanatic excitement at Lucas's arrival, cut in rudely and incredulously. "Please; he's scrawny as all hell and I haven't even seen 'im fight yet! He don't look like nothin' special."

"Excuse me," Lucas said curtly. His eyes narrowed to slits and his voice dropped a few threatening pitches. "I don't remember asking for your input. Please leave, as this is a private conversation."

It was as if Lucas had personally insulted David. The farm boy's face went from attentive to scared to downright appalled in the time it took Lucas to finish speaking. He wordlessly rose to his feet and haughtily stomped off into the fields to presumably help his father. Rather than be afraid or even so much as shocked at Lucas's display of coldness, Grey ignored it, believing that David had deserved the treatment if Lucas was the one to tell him off. Soul, however, tensed his posture and grew slightly more wary.

"Now, then." Lucas's icy mask melted back into a disarming smile. "Tell me how your training has come so far."

"Oh, that." Grey laughed sheepishly and scratched his cheek. When Lucas fixed him with an expectant look, he explained rather hastily, "See, because of all the work I've been doin' here to repay Lyle, I haven't had much time to train and, uh… Yeah..."

"Oh," came Lucas's simple reply. He looked down at Solace who met his gaze thinking along the same lines as her trainer. "Well that isn't good." Grey heaved a sigh and cast a sidelong glance at his onix and shinx.

"I know it isn't," he muttered. "But what can I do? I can't just ditch these guys after nearly burning their barn down. They work so hard here that it'd be an insult not to pay them back." Lucas stood up and folded his arms as he leaned against Lyle's house. His expression turned stern, not unlike that of a teacher's, and Solace mimicked him.

"I understand where you are coming from and that is a very noble thing of you to do, Grey, but pokémon who aren't properly trained cannot form a good bond with their trainers. Training is imperative." Grey flinched a little at the emphasis Lucas put into those last three words.

"I know," he said apologetically, "I know. But I gotta -"

"Your shinx has only recently been obtained," he continued crisply across Grey, who rose an eyebrow at him. Grey never remembered telling Lucas that.

"How did you know that?"

"I know this from experience," he said quickly. That placated Grey's suspicion. "Your shinx was only recently caught and both she your onix seem like very proud individuals. Without proper training and quality time, you can never hope to gain their favor and trust and as a result, you won't be able to control them in battle. People say you need to show your pokémon who the boss is but I for one think they're wrong. You need to show the pokémon that you're on their side and treat them as equals, not as inferior beings."

"Uh-huh," Grey muttered as he soaked in Lucas's words like a devoted student. "I feel the same way, too. Soul and I have never really been like a master and a pet. He's more like a brother to me than anything." Soul grinned and playfully punched his trainer's shoulder. Grey reciprocated the gesture and patted his charmeleon on the head. Lucas beamed at the show of comradery between the two and tightly grasped Grey's shoulders.

"That's exactly what I'm talking about!" he shouted, grinning. "Now, I have a test for you, Grey."

"A test?" Soul's partner put on his game face and clenched his fists tightly with enthusiasm, eager to please. "What is it? A battle; do I have to go find something? Just tell me what it is and I'll do it!"

Lucas looked down at Solace and made a kissing noise and his leafeon bounded off the deck and dashed towards the barn, barking like a mad dog. She came back moments later herding the five torchic that were in the barn and the phanpy that had tackled Grey like an experienced sheepdog. Once she had corralled them all in front of the pond, she prevented any of them from leaving by lazily slinking around them like a circling sharpedo.

"Good girl, Solace," Lucas lauded her. He stepped down from the deck with a hand on his chin and Grey and Soul in tow, pensive as he scanned the group of pokémon. Casting a cursory glance at the four torchic who were huddled together in fear, he dismissed them and focused his attention on the calmest Chick Pokémon and the phanpy. The torchic looked away from him and yawned before toddling off to find food, unafraid of Solace or her trainer. The bravest of them all, the young phanpy, boldly pawed the ground and turned his trunk upwards at Solace, trumpeting shrilly and offering her challenge.

"Too easy, all of them," Lucas muttered. Grey, who had been standing behind Lucas and watching him go about his business had to wonder out loud exactly what Lucas was doing. The older trainer continued his survey for a full minute before answering.

"These pokémon are all wild and I was checking them out in order to see which one of them was the most…" he paused, twirling his hand as he searched for a word. "Spirited."

"What for?" Grey asked.

_To battle?_ hoped Soul.

"No, Soul, to capture." Lucas gave the two of them a knowing smirk and turned back to the frightened torchic and the phanpy. "These four torchic here are much too submissive to prove to be any sort of challenge for you to train and the one that left is obviously brave but seems to be a bit lazy." He gestured towards the phanpy with a gleam in his eye.

"But that one there…" He trailed off smiling and got lost in some unknown nostalgia. "Let's just say he reminds me of one of my own pokémon when he was at that stage. Fierce, competitive, and full of energy. It took me a long, hard effort to train that pokémon and now, Grey, I propose that training challenge to you." Grey's eyes lit up. He'd been wanting to capture that phanpy since the moment after it tackled him but he couldn't be too sure as to what Lucas meant. To be sure, he had to ask.

"Are you saying…" he began hoping Lucas would get the message. Lucas's smile grew a bit wider. Grey whooped loudly and punched the air while beside him grinned Soul at the prospect of a new member. Lucas then nodded at Grey before he picked the phanpy up from the ground and beckoned his leafeon.

"Follow me," he grunted.

"R-Right!" grunted a startled Grey. "Be good you two!" he called to his curious shinx and onix.

He led Grey at a brisk pace away from the farm and into the tall grass without once looking back to make sure the boy was following him. He knew that by now, Grey would be hanging on his every word as if they were the secrets to life itself. He stopped several hundred feet away from the farm so that it was now part of the landscape to them and abruptly turned on his heel, placing the bemused phanpy on the ground. Solace stopped obediently next to him, swishing her tail and waiting for further orders.

"Why are we stopping here?" Grey asked. Lucas was quite pleased noticing the boy was not at all tired from the run and proceeded to back away from the pokémon and pointing straight forward with an almost arrogantly lazy arm.

"Solace," he said clearly. The Grass-type eevee evolution twitched her ears and imperceptibly tightened her muscles. "Leaf Blade."

Solace jumped into action and practically exploded off the ground like a world-class sprinter. She flicked her tail and made it glow an earthy green before giving a little hop while going into a spin and cutting down the waist-high grass in the shape of a perfect circle. She landed and took off towards the left and bounded right, slashing down blade after blade of grass until a circle of freshly mowed plains was left in her wake. At the end of her job, she released her focus from the attack and trotted back to Lucas, scratching behind her ears like a house pet.

"Whoa…" Grey breathed, awed beyond words. "That was incredible."

_Feh,_ scoffed Soul with a turn of his head. _That was nothing. I coulda done the same with a Slash or two._

"Now, Grey. I want you to show me how you fight and catch Donte here," declared Lucas. "Then I want you to train him up as best as you can and when our paths cross again, I will determine whether or not you've passed the test. Understood?"

"Understood!" said Grey with a zealous nod. Lucas smirked inwardly. If this went how he envisioned, and he knew that it would, Grey would become that much closer to realizing his true potential. Sure, there were other obstacles in the way but those bridges would be crossed when they were reached. Whatever path Grey took would lead to greatness. On that, Lucas would bet his life. The boy, like all people, just needed a little guidance

"_As a kindred spirit, I'll make it my duty to see he gets stronger and guide him along the way," _Lucas reflected. _"By any means necessary."_

Grey ushered Soul into the makeshift battlefield and started bringing his battle focus to the surface. Soul stomped forward, gnashing his teeth and revving his tail flame. At this, Lucas frowned. A quick glance at Grey and his team told anybody that Soul was his most-used and most powerful pokémon with Maverick and Strabi coming in as tied for second. If Grey grew too attached to his current way of fighting… Lucas visibly shuddered (thankfully, this went unnoticed) and scolded himself. Better not to think that way.

Donte trumpeted and glared at Soul dead in the eye before turning around and wagging his tail at the much bigger and pokémon to show considerable cheek. Soul threateningly breathed a few embers out of his nose response. The fearless little phanpy sneered assertively and actually goaded his opponent on with his trunk. Soul's jaw dropped open in shock at the phanpy's sheer audacity but he quickly reformed it into an angry scowl.

Donte pawed the ground and threw himself and the entirety of his weight into the battle. The charmeleon, eager to display his new strength, held Donte back with both arms and forced Donte into a small hole dug by the Ground-type's fervent struggling. Soul grinned in triumph but Donte surprised him and everyone else present by digging himself further in and executing a powerful Tackle that launched Soul into Grey's legs.

_Ow! Son of a -!_ Soul roared in outrage. Grey whistled, impressed with Donte's tenacity and strength, and Lucas gave a small laugh.

"Dang, man, the Pokédex wasn't lyin'!" he laughed. "Alright, let's make this a good one partner."

"Char!" Soul barked, ready to dish out some payback. Donte took the initiative once more and lowered his head, charging forward with Take Down. His opposition, leaned forward, tail straight as a flagpole and claws at the ready.

"Metal Claw!" Soul gave the slightest of nods and shot his steely claw down at Donte's approaching form to manage a direct hit to the flank, only to get struck in the gut by ninety pounds of unfettered force. When the two pokémon broke apart from their collision, Donte looked relatively healthy while Soul was gingerly holding his stomach. Taking this into account, Grey reformulated his attack plan.

"Alright, so this guy's got good endurance, stamina, and strength but he's slow. We can't meet him head on; we have to be faster and make sure he can't hit," he muttered at a hurried pace. He threw an arm out and bellowed, "Soul, Aerial Ace!" just as Donte transitioned from Take Down to a Rollout attack.

Soul defied the pain in his stomach and lashed out at the incoming phanpy and was able to hold Donte back while the smaller pokémon rolled futilely against Soul's powerful tail. Soul clenched his toe claws and stabbed them into the soft dirt to try and anchor himself, succeeding and flinging Donte into the sky. The young dragon then launched straight into an Aerial Ace attack, rushing forward to send his opponent reeling back before pivoting as he landed and coming right back around for another hit.

"Smart choice," Lucas's voice rang out, soft but still somehow fully audible. A near-invisible smirk of approval formed on Lucas's strong-jawed face and Grey practically beamed. "Now, Grey, what will you do next…?"

Meanwhile on the battlefield, Donte was just righting himself and shaking off the effects of the heavy blow while Soul primed himself for an Ember attack. Careful not to start a brush fire, he took careful aim and began relentlessly pelting his opponent with fireballs. Donte would have none of that; he flew into a Rollout attack in the middle of Soul's attack, powered through each fireball like a bulldozer and crashed himself into Soul. Skidding to a halt, he whirled around to face a now dazed charmeleon and rolled again, actually leaving a small groove in the ground in his wake. Another super-effective hit sent Soul to the ground.

Grey's mouth fell open in shock. Just how powerful was this phanpy to inflict so much damage to his pokémon even with a super-effective move? Reckoning Soul was at least at half strength now, Grey needed a more powerful attack than Ember if he wanted to win. He grit his teeth and focused; now was not the time to lose heart. Donte meanwhile prepared his next strike through circling a recovering Soul to gather momentum.

"Can't let Lucas down," Grey ground out. With little time to spare, he scanned the battlefield for and possible way to counter Donte. There was no way to end Donte's charge while was circling and Soul wouldn't be strong enough to stop it with his bare hands, so he was left with no choice but to wing it.

"Soul, wait for him to charge you and use Dragon Rage," he instructed, "then use Will-O-Wisp."

"Chaaar…" Soul nodded, flaring his tail flame as he commenced forming the attack.

"_Will-O-Wisp?"_ thought Lucas. He raised an eyebrow and centered his vision on Soul and the stance the dragon took. _"Interesting move to teach a charmeleon. But he keeps taking the same stance when attacking and it's obvious that Grey ad-libbed as a result of seeing no clear way to victory. He could have ordered Soul to attack the ground in front of Donte as he's moving and then strike with Aerial Ace…" _Comprehension hit him. _"Or maybe it's that Soul can't time it well enough. They truly have much to learn."_

At that moment, Donte came to an abrupt halt and pivoted mid-roll in Soul's direction. The kinetic energy he built up congregated behind him and he used it to burst off the ground in his most powerful Rollout yet. Halfway to his target, however, Soul, unleashed his Dragon Rage and it impacted the little phanpy, causing an explosion that launched him and several chunks of the ground into the sky. Grey's charmeleon then vaulted after Donte, enlarging his flame and upping the temperature to blue hot. Rolling forward in the air, the blazing flames passed over tough blue hide and passed it over Donte's side, licking it hungrily and leaving a raw, stinging burn its path.

Donte dropped unceremoniously to the ground looking much worse for wear than he was originally. Soul landed gracefully with a smile of triumph on his face while Donte wore a pained wince. The battle had been decided and before Donte could even sound off to voice his protest, he had been hit with a Poké Ball and sucked in.

"Yes!" Grey cheered. "That phanpy is mine!"

"Don't be so sure," Lucas cut in, ending the younger trainer's celebration. Sure enough, Donte was not going to give in without a fight and burst from the Poké Ball moments later.

"Aww." Grey's face fell. "I thought for sure we'd have it."

"Catching a pokémon is not always as easy as it seems," lectured Lucas. "It may take multiple tries and a continued fighting effort." Soul chose that moment to rush in and viciously Slash Donte's burned flank for good measure. Donte squealed in pain and tried to compose himself but the flaring pain from his burn prevented any effort.

"Now!" barked Lucas and Grey was all too quick to oblige. For the second time now, Donte was pulled into a Poké Ball and struggled, this time in vain. According to the soft 'ding' from the Poké Ball, he was captured.

"Oh, yeah, baby! Phanpy is mine!" Grey was bouncing in place with jubilation only to be tackled down by a triumphant Soul moments later. "Kickass, partner! Now we've got a new member to replace Luce. We keep going like this and it'll be smooth sailin'!"

"That's what you think," Lucas said to himself. "Oh, Greyson, have you much to learn. Have you much, much to learn…" Lucas turned around, Solace faithfully behind him, and shouted a goodbye to Grey as well as a reminder to keep up his training.

"I'll be seeing you again!" he said. "Count on it. And good luck!"

"Luck's got nothing to do with it!" Grey called at Lucas's retreating back. "It's all skill!" Lucas resisted the urge to admonish the boy. He had to learn on his own, he decided, that, right now, at his skill level, luck had nearly everything to do with it.

* * *

**PHEW! Oh, my lord, that took forever but the writer's block is FINALLY dead! Huzzah! I'm truly sorry for the long wait, guys, you shouldn't have to wait that long just because of me. To apologize, I'll try and have the next chapter out in the next two weeks. Just give me some time, alright? Again, thank you everyone who reviewed for your continued support and interest in the story and I'm sorry this post-chapter note is so short, but I've got to get started on the next chapter if I want to keep my promise. Keep on rockin' guys, and let your mass speculation begin (especially concerning Lucas's closing thoughts).**

**No chapter preview today. Sorry 8(**


	17. Now It's Personal

**I have neglected this story… But at least I haven't been lazy with my other ones so I guess that kind of makes up for it.. Just a quick note, from here on out, my chapter lengths are gonna be a bit more varied than normal but quality won't diminish at all; I promise you that. It's just a style change I'm trying out so that the chapters aren't so hellishly long to read, y'know? More enjoyable for you guys. Also, be on the lookout for a Chapter 1 revamp sooner or later. Now, the first of many chapter recaps! And be happy, this is a pretty long chapter here :D**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Pokémon, no. But I do own… THIS BAG OF NACHOS! …Why doesn't that make me feel better?

KEY:

"normal speech"

"_thought"_

_translated Pokémon speech_

"blah blah blah _emphasis _blah blah blah"

**Pokédex Entries**

_Last time, Grey, James, and a newcomer named Baxter were working off their debt to Lyle, the owner of the Clubs Ranch. While they were on break, Lucas popped in to check on Grey and to offer him a training challenge: Catch Lyle's most unruly Phanpy, bond with him, and train him up to a Donphan. Grey, eager to prove himself to his senior in Pokémon Training, took the challenge without a second thought. _

_Throughout Grey's battle to capture Donte, the Phanpy, Lucas analyzed his protégé's battle style and realized that luck and wild improvisation were very prominent. Instead of pointing it out, he decided it would be better to let Grey learn it on his own._

_However, behind the scenes, a Team Regal admin named William and his Magmortar tested out a sinister device with the ability to control Pokémon through a peculiar sound dubbed the Frequency Net. The reason for creating the device is obvious, but the true scope of Team Regal's plan remains unknown…_

* * *

Two days had passed since becoming indebted to Lyle and Grey and James were now on their last day of work. Baxter had paid off his obligations to the farmer and had been let go the day before but the boys still had one more task ahead of them in Lyle's orchard. There was still one full day's work ahead of them. James and Grey were both eager to get it over with, and both for the same reason.

"Last day and we can finally get back to business," James said lazily. He uncrossed his legs and stretched and Grey moved to sit on the other side of the pickup truck to give him room. In response to the now smaller room to roam, the Torchic that had tagged along for the ride hopped up on James' shoulder.

"You can say that again," agreed Grey. He reached behind him smiling broadly and retrieved his Phanpy's Poké Ball. "Can't wait to start training Donte. Lyle said his dad was a Piloswine belonging to a passing Trainer that got into his barn one night so he's bound to know some cool moves."

"Lyle's not mad at you for that?" James asked when he noticed the Poké Ball. "I mean, he said that one was close to evolving and he depends on those Donphan, you know."

"Relax," replied the still grinning Grey, "Lyle said Donte's a bit of a troublemaker anyway. Any Pokémon with that level of energy's my kinda Pokémon."

"A Pokémon after your own heart," the older boy joked. Grey grunted in annoyance and pocketed the ball.

"So what if he is? Doesn't matter either way. He's my Pokémon now 'n Lucas gave me a job to train 'im up to a Donphan so that's what I'm gonna do." Things were silent between the two of them for a while as James steadily grew more and more uneasy after the mention of Lucas.

"Hey, Grey," he said slowly and unsurely, "about that Lucas guy…"

"What about him?"

"You sure you can trust him?" Grey narrowed his eyes waspishly.

"Whaddaya mean by that? You think he's a bad guy or something?" The growing indignity in his voice was a warning sign. James picked up on it and worded his next sentence carefully.

"I mean, he's a random veteran trainer that's suddenly taken an interest in you," he articulated. "Don't you think it's a bit strange?" He forced down a sigh of relief when Grey visibly relaxed.

"Not really," the younger trainer mumbled. "Okay, maybe a little bit. But trainers meet on the road all the time. If he wants to tutor me, who am I to refuse the help?"

"I guess you do have a point there," conceded James. "I'm just a bit wary of the guy. He gave off weird vibes last time on the boat."

"You're imaginin' things!" Grey said flippantly. "Jeez, dude, you're way too careful. Lighten up for once."

Their ride through the plains continued in silence and into greener, sunnier, and hillier pastures dominated by trees bearing brightly colored fruits. Grey recognized a great many of them to be berry trees but the others were foreign to him. Looking back over his shoulder, he saw that Lyle's house and ranch were nowhere to be seen.

"How far out are we?" he asked the air.

"Orchards like this tend to be pretty far away from the main ranch. It's so that they can alternate their work schedule between the ranch and the orchard," James answered through a yawn. "Common knowledge, dude."

"I knew that!" Grey retorted. "It's just… I hadn't thought about it in a long while. Shut up!" he added loudly when James gave him a condescending smirk.

"Sure you did." James put his hands behind his head and leaned back comfortably. "And I'm the mayor of Ecruteak City."

"You're a jerk, y'know that?"

"Coming from you, that's kind of funny," muttered the older boy.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

More silence. The truck went over a particularly big bump in the road that made Torchic peep in surprise. As if finally noticing the Chick Pokémon's presence, Grey decided to point it out.

"What up with Torchic, dude?" he asked rather bluntly. Torchic chirped up in response and changed spots to James' lap.

"Him? I have no clue," replied James while he absentmindedly petted the warm bird's head. "He's just been following me around since yesterday. Wasn't causing trouble so I decided to just let him."

"Oh, cool. So you gonna catch 'im?" Grey asked eagerly. James looked repulsed at the thought.

"No!" he said firmly. Torchic's head feathers seemed to droop at this. "I'm not gonna take one of Lyle's Pokémon. He needs them to work."

"He only needs the girls," Grey pointed out in a rare moment of logic. "The girls make eggs that he can sell but if the boys get involved, he just has more Torchic." James blinked in surprise. Was Grey actually using his head to make a point? he thought.

"Besides, he has, like, ten males besides this little guy here," Grey continued. "He won't miss one." James seemed to consider Grey's words carefully and concluded that, surprisingly, the younger Trainer was right.

"I guess," James said unsurely. "And I do need a Fire-type." Torchic brightened up. "But I'm gonna ask Lyle before I do anything."

"We're here, boys!" Lyle called as he brought the pickup to a stop a few meters away from a collection of oran berry trees. "This here's the last job y'all have to do and then you can leave."

Grey jumped out of the truck and stretched his back with audible pops. "So, old man, what's the deal for today?"

"Harvesting. We're goin' up to the ripe trees today and going picking. Apricorns and berries sell pretty well." Grey tilted his head, curiosity piqued.

"Apricorns?" he echoed curiously. "The heck are apricorns?"

"What, you don't know that, either?" James asked incredulously. Grey shot him a glare and heaved a heavy annoyed sigh.

"Just stuff it and tell me already, Rhodes," he said bitingly. "Not in the mood."

"Apricorns," said James with a sigh, "are what were used to catch Pokémon before the advent of the modern mass-produced Poké Ball. You'd hollow one out and put a special device inside and, bam, instant Poké Ball." Grey's attention was immediately recaptured.

"You serious?" he asked disbelievingly. "But they're plants. How's anyone make a Poké Ball out of a plant when the ones made these days are metal?"

"You got me," James admitted. Lyle motioned for the two of them to pick up an empty bushel each and marshaled them towards the oran tree cluster with three stepladders in hand. "They're used to make specialty balls nowadays but it's kind of rare to find someone who practices that trade."

Grey looked upwards in thought and considered the benefits of having a few specialty Poké Balls in his arsenal. It could only be beneficial, he deduced, if there were an exceedingly rare Pokémon he'd set his sights on that ordinary Poké Balls didn't affect. He grinned, stowing the thought away for later and making a mental note to get a few apricorns for himself before leaving the orchard.

"Oh, no way, boy. I know that look." Grey jumped at Lyle's voice behind him and tried to make himself appear as innocent as possible.

"What look?" he asked jovially. "I wasn't making any looks."

"You were planning to steal somethin' from my orchard," Lyle deadpanned. "Lemme guess; the apricorns. I knew it; all the Trainers go fer those." Jaw dropping, Grey knew he was caught.

"How did you - ?"

"Like I said, all the Trainers go fer those," Lyle cut in. Reaching the cluster of oran trees, Lyle hopped up on a stepladder and began picking the fruit. "Tell you what, if you do a good job, I'll give you a few apricorn balls as a thank-you."

"You mean it?" beamed Grey.

"Sure, why not? The guy I sell 'em too pays good money for 'em and gives me a few apricorn balls just in case I'm lookin' to capture somethin' or make some extra cash," explained Lyle.

"Sweet!"

"Just don't steal nothin'!" the burly farmer reiterated. Grey jumped, gave a hasty nod, and set to work picking berries with renewed vigor.

* * *

Once again in the shady clearing on the outskirts of Mélange Forest, William's test team was running their last checkup on the Frequency Net. The Regal Admin in question was lazily leaning against a tree, the brim of his helmet pulled over his eyes as he waited for the scientists to finish their job. He did a good job of hiding it but everyone present knew William was growing impatient. Thankfully, after a few quick minutes, one scientist went to fetch William and bring him over to the console.

"It's done, sir," said the head developer. The balding man respectfully bowed out of William's way to let him see the device.

"Twenty-five tests later and it's finally complete," murmured William. "I love it when things go the way they should." He took the device's controller, eyeing it like a finely cut jewel, and allowed himself a smirk of victory. The Frequency net itself was little more than a portable subwoofer with an antenna topping it and a wire connecting it to the controller but behind its deceptively simple appearance was the potential to cause unspeakable havoc. With this, he thought, Team Regal's power and capacity as a threat would rise exponentially, as would his own. The thought of that many Pokémon under his control… It made William want to smile.

Bad things happened whenever William smiled.

"It's working at optimal performance, Sir William. Just activating it should attract a swarm of Pokémon from the area," informed a nearby ragged-looking scientist. "Though this is still a prototype, so take care not to overwork it." William shot him a burning glare.

"Don't tell me what I already know," he snarled. "I'm not going to go and risk breaking the damn thing immediately after confirming that it works. What do you take me for, an idiot?"

"N-No, sir," the scientist balked. He cast a fervent glance at his fellow scientists in a plea for help. Out of well-placed fear for their lives, they all kept their eyes down and left their friend to dry. William eyed the frightened balding inventor dangerously before letting out a snort and averting his gaze.

"You're hardly worth the effort," he said with a scowl. Reaching for the belt of his clean and pressed uniform, William grasped two Poké Balls and enlarged them both in his hand.

"Magmortar, Scizor," he called, tossing them up. An eruption of light flashed brightly released William's star Pokémon. Magmortar let out a low growl while Scizor silently and humbly knelt before its trainer. "Time to wreak some havoc."

Scizor and Magmortar watched William stride to the center of the clearing, raise the Frequency Net's controller above his head and crank its range up to maximum. A high-pitched tone flew out from the device and radiated outwards for miles before being replaced by a deep, pulsing bass. At first, nothing happened. The scientist team looked on with a mixture of curiosity and fear that their invention had failed. William's scowl deepened. Then a deafening buzzing rose into the air.

The wing beats of dozens of Bug-type Pokémon dominated all other sounds as they grew closer to the forest clearing. William smirked. Ninjask, Spinarak and Ariados, and a small flock of Tallow were the first to appear. Following behind them were six very large and very angry Beedrill with the same Pinsir previously controlled by William on point. The Stag Beetle Pokémon gave the object of its rage a death glare and cried out in indignation.

_Again? _Pinsir roared. The human would pay dearly. It would make sure of that.

Following them came four Parasect, spores lightly falling from their mushrooms as a dozen Pineco lowered themselves from the surrounding trees. Last came a veritable swarm of Zigzagoon and a small group of purple-colored insects William was not completely familiar with.

"Ah, yes," he said when it finally came to him. "The League has been importing Pokémon from other regions into this archipelago, so of course they'd have some species in from Unova." He knelt down to inspect the hissing purple insects and chuckled.

"Venipede," he whispered as if the word were taboo. "How fortuitous." Casting a sweeping glance around the clearing, William found that it was completely packed. The Taillow were forced to either stay airborne or perch on top of the Frequency Net console and the scientists were huddled together and surrounded by the Pineco, struggling not to make even the slightest movement.

"Scizor, take half of the army and lead them to battle. I'll be going with Magmortar." He turned to the mob and raised his voice to make sure they all heard him.

"The rest of you! I give you one edict!" he said in a loud boom. Every Pokémon present, against their wills, was forced to pay attention to William. Every Pokémon present willingly gave the human that dared command them hateful glares. He paused, ignoring their fury and relishing the moment.

William smiled.

"Attack."

Elsewhere, June and Rachel were about to begin a in a training session. The two girls were in the field in Lyle's back yard with one Pokémon out each, Rhea for June and Mudkip for Rachel. Mudkip was splashing around without a care in the pond and Rhea the nidoran was nibbling on a patch of grass. The older Thomas sibling had finally asked June to help her in battle training, a favor that June was all too happy to do. But when asked why she didn't just ask Grey to help, Rachel made a face and insisted they get started immediately.

"Now, are you sure you are going to go through with it this time?" June asked Rachel, skepticism evident. Rightly so, she inwardly thought, given Rachel's distaste for battles.

"Yes, I'm sure," Rachel impatiently replied. "I don't want to be hearing it from my little brother when I 'don't pull my own weight'. Even when my jobs bring in most of the money," she added in a scathing undertone.

"Okay," said and unsure June, "if you say so. Now then, the first thing you want to remember about training is patience. Sometimes things will not go your way or move too slow for your liking but you need to remember that if you work as hard as your Pokémon, things will come much easier to you. Also -"

"June, that's great and all," Rachel interrupted, "but I already know most of that stuff from training with Vulpix." June a puzzled look crossed June's freckled face.

"Then why do you need me to teach you?" she asked. Her nidoran nuzzled her leg and whined for attention, prompting the girl to pick up her Pokémon and cradle her.

"I need to know how to make a weak Pokémon stronger," said Rachel. She called Mudkip over to pat his oblivious little head and continued, "Vulpix is my strongest team member right now and Heracross is powerful on his own already. Lucy is a loaner from Grey so she's got some experience but Mudkip is still a kid. Get what I mean?" June's look of puzzlement persisted for a few seconds before her face lit up in excitement.

"Oh! I know how to do that! Practice battles!" At this, Rachel blinked in confusion.

"Practice battles," she echoed. "You mean what Grey does all the time where he'll put two of his Pokémon against each other?"

"Mhm, it is actually a great way to get a new member acclimated to battle without making them go up against a much stronger and unrestrained wild opponent. It is a basic training approach." Rachel rather uneasily considered the prospect, worried about the outcome. Both of her main fighters were much too strong for Mudkip to practice against, meaning Lucy was the only viable training partner. The only problem with that was Lucy was a bit too eager to fight and hardly ever restrained herself.

"But she is my only option," the rosette said to herself. Deciding with a sigh to open Lucy's Poké Ball, she took a step back and pointed at Mudkip.

"Lucy, this is Mudkip. I don't think you two've met before."

"Bui bui." _Hey, kid._

"Mud!" _Hi there!_ Lucy looked up at Rachel and silently asked why she was summoned.

"We're gonna be doing some practice drills with Mudkip here," the Ranger explained. Lucy raised an eyebrow but allowed Rachel to continue. "So, to that end, I want you to train him on how to use his Water Gun and let him practice some attacks on you."

_So I'm gonna be his friggin' punching bag?_ the sea weasel cried. She let out a low growl and barked angrily.

"I know you don't like it!" Rachel said, hands up in defense. "But it's the only way Mudkip can learn without me forcing him straight into a battle with a wild Pokémon. Please, Lucy?" Lucy stood fast in her defiance, huffing indignantly at the thought of becoming a training dummy. Sensing the situation was going nowhere fast, June set her nidoran down and approached Lucy.

"I know it isn't the most attractive prospect," she began soothingly as she stroked Lucy's fur, "but Mudkip needs guidance from an older Pokémon like you. Plus, Grey did say that you need to help Rachel if she needs it."

At this, Lucy gave a defeated sigh. Then she huffed again and turned to Rachel, giving her a reluctant nod. Rachel's face brightened immediately and she pulled the buizel into a tight hug.

"Thanks, Lucy!" she cried.

"I think it would be best to start with Water Gun for now," June suggested, "and have your goal be mastering the attack before the end of the day. Aiming and such will be tackled later."

"Alright then." Lucy jumped out of the hug and took her place next to Mudkip. Rachel took a deep breath and pointed off into the distance.

"Water Gun!" she dictated proudly. Lucy responded with an expertly launched jet of water. Mudkip, seeing the example, attempted to do the same. He took in a deep breath and blew out as hard as he could but only managed to produce a little arcing trickle. Lucy and Rachel let out a unified groan.

"This is going to take a while," giggled June.

"Nidaaa…"

* * *

"Alright, Lyle, we've each filled four bushels each of berries and apricorns," a tired Grey reported in to the farmer. He leaned against one of the many berry trees in the area, thankful for the shade, and wiped his brow free of sweat. Lyle gave the bushels a quick glance before smiling in satisfaction.

"What's next?" Jameson asked from his hunched over stance on the ground. "God, my arms are burning…" Grey suppressed a snicker. This was one of the rare times he was happy to have had Ranger training and was able to withstand manual labor like . Lyle beckoned them over while releasing Quagsire from his Poké Ball and led the way towards the shadier back of the orchard where the air was fresher, the leaves were thicker, and the underbrush started to grow wild.

"If y'all thought this here orchard was cool," he said as he led the boys through increasingly thick and shady foliage, "you're gonna love this next one. These guys are imported."

Interests piqued, the boys and Torchic, who had gone off to explore the orchard only to reappear and totter behind Jameson, followed behind Lyle expectantly. Not long later, Lyle took them into a deforested section of the orchard bathed in bright sunlight. In the center of the cleared space was a massive mesh tent, the inside of which was covered in a puffy white substance. Lyle stood proudly next to it, puffing out his chest and gestured grandly towards the tent.

"This right here is my cash cow!" he boomed. "A cotton farm!" Grey blankly stared at the structure, comparing the structure before him to a generic image of a farm in his head and failing to see any similarities. On the other hand, James gave Lyle a knowing grin and approached the tent with interest.

"If I'm right," began James, "you got yourself a hold of about twenty or so Cottonee, haven't you?" Lyle beamed.

"'S right!" he answered. Still, Grey looked on in confusion.

"Okay, I must be outta the loop. What's a Cottonee?" he asked.

"Check your Pokédex," James said simply. So Grey did just that. With the search feature, he typed in "C-O-T" the image of a small, white and puffy Pokémon next jumped up onto his screen.

**Cottonee, the Cotton Puff Pokémon. As ninety percent of this Pokémon's body is made of high-quality cotton, they, like members of the Hoppip line, are vulnerable to being swept up by strong gusts of wind. When this happens, they are unable to control their path of movement and can only stop when they bunch together in groups and fall to the ground or when saturated during heavy rain. This species spends most of its time photosynthesizing through their broad leaves and avoid being preyed upon by shooting cotton from their bodies before dashing away with incredible speed. A remarkably docile species, Cottonee are a fairly rare breed outside of the Unova Region. Because they are so plentiful within Unova and completely innocuous, Cottonee have been artificially introduced to other regions with no adverse effects.**

"So these guys are one of the introduced species June was telling me about," Grey said. "And they're from Unova; cool!"

"The Pokémon League must've taken some species out of Unova and introduced them into the Archipelago. That was pretty smart of them considering how this region was before," James remarked. He smirked and let out a small laugh. "June's gonna have a field day with this."

"Well, enough standin' around. Lemme show you boys the inside!" insisted Lyle. Lyle pushed back the opening flap of the tent and ushered the boys in. The instant they entered the tent, a wall of humidity swept over them. A loud tittering filled the air and giant puffballs lightly bumped into the boys, bounced off and stuck to the walls of the tent. One side of the mesh was blanketed in white cotton while the other was bare to let in sunlight. There were two water troughs on either end of the tent and scattered around the ankle high grass and on the uncovered side of the tent were twenty Cottonee of all sizes.

"Oh, cool," Grey breathed, impressed. "How'd you get 'em all?"

"Caught 'em all," Lyle replied simply. "League dropped off a bunch of Unova Pokémon near the forest 'round Springbloom Lake so they were free game. I decided, why not start a Cottonee farm? 'S a lot cheaper and a lot less work than growin' cotton and the Pokémon don't seem to mind at all."

"No, they don't," James noted. The Cottonee didn't seem to mind at all that they had been taken from their homes. A species that rarely moved from its basking spot, the Cottonee were all fine with being captured as cotton producers as long as it meant a free place to bask and a good water supply.

"Judgin' by the way they're all laughing, it doesn't seem that way," Grey added. One specimen clinging to the mesh floated down in front of his face, tiny yellow eyes looking warmly at the human.

"Hey there," Grey greeted it with a smile. The Cottonee responded by tittering some more and blowing a few cotton seeds in Grey's face before floating down to play tag with Torchic.

Torchic didn't seem to want to play and instead initiated a mock battle, pecking down the Razor Leaves sent in its direction. Quagsire, not wanting to get hit by a stray Grass-type move, slinked away into a mob of Cottonee on the ground and was quickly swarmed by them. The Water Fish Pokémon tilted his head and blinked his beady eyes stupidly from beneath the blanket of Cottonee.

"Playful little guys," laughed Grey.

"How do you know they're laughin'?" Lyle asked with obvious curiosity. "They always make this same sound no matter if I'm here or not."

"Oh. Well…" Grey hummed in thought as he tried to form an answer. "It's hard to explain. Sometimes, I sorta get these signals, I guess, from Pokémon around me that tell me how they're feelin' or the basic gist of what they're tryin' to say."

"So you can talk to Pokémon?" Lyle assumed. Grey shook his head.

"Nah, nothing like that but it does come in handy a lot."

"I just think he's crazy," James put in with a smirk.

"Well no-one asked you," Grey snapped.

"All right, all right," Lyle said with a chortle. "We're gonna finish up today by collectin' this here harvest and after that, you boys are free to go. But first…" The farmer dug into the pockets of his overalls and handed the boys three Poké Balls each.

"For a job well done," he said kindly. "Take it as a token of thanks. The red 'n yellow ones are Fast Balls; use those to catch buggers that like to run. Blue 'n reds are the Lure Balls used to effectively catch Pokémon you end up fishin' outta the water, and the gray ones are Heavy Balls. Pretty self-explanatory there."

"Thanks, Lyle!" the boys chorused.

"Hey, maybe we should each catch a Unova Pokémon with these, Grey," suggested James. "I mean, they're rare outside of Unova and powerful, right?"

"Yeah, sounds good. Maybe when we get to Springbloom, I'll catch myself one of these guys," Grey said with a gesture towards the Cottonee, "but for now, let's - " Grey stopped speaking on a dime and his face went from jolly to fearful in a split second.

"Dude, what's up?" asked a wary James. "I don't like that look on your face." Grey's head whipped around frantically as he searched for something that only he could sense. Torchic and his opponent suddenly stopped their battle and the Cottonee swarming Lyle's Quagsire all slid off and bunched together in a fear-stricken huddle. Quagsire himself went unnaturally stiff.

"You guys don't hear that?" Grey whispered quickly. Lyle and James responded with confused looks. "It sounds like Pokémon; a bunch of Pokémon, and they're all crying for help."

"Grey," Lyle began warily, "we don't hear nothin'. You think yer just imaginin' -"

"No! Listen!" shouted Grey as he released his Charmeleon. Everyone went quiet and did as Grey said. It was faint, but the ominous sound of a truly large mob of Pokémon groaning, chirping, and hissing their way closer to their location made itself heard. Soul's azure eyes hardened and his pupils became slits. He let out a low hiss and a few flames escaped his mouth as he flexed his claws in anticipation.

_This is not good,_ he said to Grey. _I smell a fight coming. And the smell of those guys that raided the tower, _he added.

"Jimmy, Soul says he smells those guys from the Museum Tower," Grey relayed. "Lyle needs to get out of here."

"It's getting louder," James breathed. James immediately shifted gears as his mind raced to make a battle plan. His hand flew to his pockets for his Poke Balls to release his Scyther and Duskull and he whirled to Lyle, rattling off orders before his brain could stop his mouth.

"Lyle, take Torchic and Quagsire and all the Cottonee and get the hell out of here as fast as you can. We'll take these guys on."

"What? No!" Lyle protested. "I can't let y'all do that!"

"Lyle, with all due respect, get the hell out of here!" barked Grey. "You said yourself you're not a strong battler and we can't let you fight if you're not. We've got this, okay?" The farmer struggled between common decency and common sense before forcing himself to make a decision.

"Fine," he conceded. "But don't you boys go gettin' in over yer heads." He then produced twenty Poké Balls from his pockets and proceeded to recall Quagsire and the Cottonne.

"C'mon, Torchic!" he called over his shoulder as he exited the tent through its second entrance. Torchic stayed rooted to the spot for a moment and gave James a worried look. James mustered a small smile and a nod to reassure the Pokémon and Torchic tottered away after Lyle. Grey released Strabi and Donte before dashing out of the tent with his Pokémon in tow and James and his team right on their tail.

* * *

"Such a picturesque sight," William muttered with a smile as he stood on the hill overlooking Lyle's orchard. "The rolling green hills, pink Pecha trees and the blue Orans and, ooh, even some apricorn trees; how quaint." He turned his head to the massive heat source beside him. Magmortar stood stock still and at the ready. William's smile broadened.

"Magmortar. Fire Blast," he said evilly.

Magmortar's arm cannons were up and primed before the command was even finished, their barrels widening as a torrent of fire formed inside. With a mighty grunt, Magmortar condensed the fire and sent it rocketing out his cannons and down at the orchard where it morphed midair into a flaming image of the character for 'Fire'. The Fire Blast attack met the ground and waves of heat and flame radiated outwards, washing over the trees and grass and turning the impact point into an infernal blaze. The rate at which vegetation turned to ash and smoke rose to stain the clear sky was terrifying to behold.

"And now we send in the troops and watch it burn," William said under his breath. He rose one arm into the air and brought it down and the horde of Pokémon under his control rushed in from behind him.

"As much havoc as you can!" he reminded them gleefully. "Burn it all down!"

William's instant militia set to work destroying as much of the orchard as they could. Pinsir charged forward with the force of a truck and bowled down a tree with ease, then turned to a Pecha tree and gripped it with his horns to wrench it out of the ground and throw it as if it were a stick. The insect Pokémon flew in like a plague, latching onto trees and rapidly stripping them of their leaves and fruit while the Zigzagoon fought amongst each other for the scraps. Those unlucky enough to get into Magmortar's handiwork caught fire and rampaged trying to put themselves out but they only served to spread the blaze when they made contact with the vegetation.

And all the while, their screams and shouts filled the air while their pleas for help and cries of anguish attacked Grey's mind.

"Maverick, put out the flames!" he shouted through clenched teeth. William watched with a mix of annoyance and curiosity as two boys, one in red and one in blue, tore out from nowhere with a mix of Pokémon behind them. The boy in blue released a Zangoose and the one in red was commanding his Onix to smother the fire with dirt and its own body.

"Luna," James said breathlessly, "use Water Pulse on anything that's on fire. _NOT SOUL!_" he roared when the Cat Ferret readied an orb of water trained at Soul's tail. Luna gave a nod and chucked the Water Pulse into the inferno and grinned as all of the flames died and steam rose up to mix with the smoke.

"Maverick, keep it up. Throw yourself onto any ground fires and toss dirt at the trees but don't break any down!" Grey ordered. The Onix roared an affirmative just as the Pokémon militia stormed into the area, trampling the charred ground.

"And now the fun starts," James muttered. He turned to Sniper and gave the blade bug the slightest of nods. In an instant, Sniper was in the crowd and blitzing Pinsir with a flurry of blade strokes while the Stag Beetle endured with its hard carapace. The buzzing of insect wings overtook their hearing as the Ninjask and Beedrill appeared over the burning treetops and jumped into the fray.

Grey ordered Soul to start shooting down Ninjask before they could utilize their Speed Boost ability and the Flame Pokémon's aim proved true a small fraction of the Ninjask fell to the ground in burning heaps. One particularly agile one sped away from Soul's line of fire and dove at James, claws up and trained on the boy's chest. James rolled out of the way and opened his mouth to call for his Duskull's Shadow Ball attack but suddenly the Ninjask burst into flames and was tackled out of the sky by a tiny orange ball that started wrestling with the burning bug and mercilessly pecking it. The scuffle was over when the Ninjask fell to its attacker, revealed to James to be none other than Torchic.

"Wha…?" he said dumbly. "What're you doing here? It's dangerous!" Torchic shook its head defiantly and sped past James into the Zigzagoon swarm, shooting Embers from its tiny beak and chirping a war cry.

Grey's head was pounding with the echoes of the Pokémon's pain and fear assaulted his mind. He fought them back, trying to focus on the battle but it was proving to be a taxing endeavor. Strabi ran ahead of him and blindsided a Zigzagoon with Spark before launching a Shock Wave into the crowd and frying a few more. The raccoon Pokémon were the most abundant, swarming around the orchard and jumping into the berry trees to steal as much food as they could. Grey's Phanpy was doing well against them, charging in with Rollout and mowing them down as if they weren't there, his rampage growing stronger by the minute.

"Maverick, the Beedrill!" Grey roared over his shoulder. His command was met by the thundering rumble of his Onix followed by impact sounds as the rock snake's Slam attack met with the bodies of the Poison Bee Pokémon. One of the Beedrill sped under Maverick's deadly tail and went for Grey with one of its spears thrust out. Grey jumped out of the way at the last second and the Beedrill ended up embedding its weapon in the ground.

"Rollout full power!" The Phanpy gave a loud trumpet and tucked itself into a tire and started to rotate. Donte took off at full speed and collided with the Beedrill, pulling its spear out of the ground and knocking it back only to throw his full weight onto the Bug-type a moment later with a Body Slam.

"Booba!" grunted Magmortar. Catching his Trainer's attention, the Blast Pokémon pointed an arm down at the battlefield and urged William to look closer.

"Well, doesn't this appear troublesome?" muttered William. He took out a pair of binoculars to get a better look at the raging battle. Focusing on James, he saw the Trainer surrounded by Zigzagoon giving orders to a Scyther and having it mercilessly assault Pinsir as his Zangoose beat the Zigzagoon back with Crush Claw and a Duskull was attacking the Parasect to keep them from letting off any spores. Despite the boy in blue handling himself well, William found that uninteresting and shifted attention to Grey.

"Wait a second… A boy in a red jacket with a Charmander," the Admin murmured to himself. Grey, with one hand clutching his throbbing head, was taking shelter behind his Onix's tail and shouting orders to his other three Pokémon.

"Interesting; seems it's evolved into a Charmeleon. But it's unmistakable. This is the boy Otto wants dead." William put his fingers to his lips and gave a shrill whistle to summon his Scizor. The red armored insect fluttered down from the treetops and William pointed to the battlefield without a word. Scizor took the hint and winged its way into the fray without hesitation.

"Attack the boy in red!" William shouted after it. He then rose his hand and snapped his fingers. A rush of wings was heard as the many Taillow under his control swooped into action, each one holding a Pineco in its talons.

"Things just got more interesting." Putting the binoculars back up to his eyes, William sat back and watched the mayhem.

James breathed a sigh of relief as Sniper ducked under a wild punch thrown by Pinsir and knocked out the Stag Beetle Pokémon with a well-aimed Slash. That was the last Pokémon in his vicinity but there were still more to take out. He heard a cry of pain from Luna when the Normal-type was hit by a Poison Tail attack from one of the handful of Venipede milling about and opened his mouth to give a command. Another cry, this one of battle, rose up behind him and a stream of embers flew and torched the poisonous Unova Pokémon. Torchic jumped onto the scene and threw himself at a Bluk Berry plant beak first to knock out a second vengeful Venipede with Peck.

"Thanks, Torchic - !"

BOOM!

James was thrown off his feet as an explosion sent turf and dirt clouds erupting everywhere. Cough and scrambling to crawl away when another explosion went off to his left, the teenager wiped the dirt from his face to see just what had caused the explosion. In the small crater left by the first blast was an unconscious and badly torched Pineco. His head snapped up at the caw of the Taillow above and his jaw dropped at what he was seeing:

Around twenty or so Taillow were scrambling about overhead dropping glowing bundles that he inferred were Pineco preparing to use Self-Destruct. The Taillow were air raiding the orchard!

"Shit!" he cursed, jumping back up to his feet. He had to find Grey and warn him though he figured it would be redundant given that the explosions were growing more frequent.

"Sniper, Luna, get back here!" he called to his Pokémon. Luna looked away from her defeated Parasect and dashed back over while Sniper was there in a flash to knock away a Taillow that attempted to rush his Trainer.

"Where's Torchic?" the boy said breathlessly. "We need to get him out of here!" He looked around frantically and found the Chick Pokémon being overwhelmed by a group of Zigzagoon mercilessly slashing at him before dispersing and leaving him for dead. Then time seemed to slow down as James looked above the fallen Fire-type to see another Taillow air-bomber preparing to drop a Pineco. The Tiny Swallow dropped its cargo directly above Torchic and the little one struggled to get back up, falling when he put too much weight on his left foot. All of the color immediately drained from James' face.

Instinct took over, forcing James to do the only thing he could to save the injured bird's life. His hand dove into his pants pocket and took out the Fast Ball he'd received moments ago. Not even bothering to aim, James' hand flung forward and threw the surprisingly light apricorn Poké Ball at Torchic and prayed it would reach in time. Torchic looked up at the last second to see the glowing Pineco feet away from hitting his head and froze, giving the Fast Ball a clear target. The next thing he knew, the whole world flashed red as he was pulled away from it and into the darkness of sleep.

The Fast Ball pulled Torchic inside just as the explosion went off and sent it rocketing away from the point of impact. James sprinted after it and dove to catch it, holding it safely to his chest before being joined by Sniper and Luna.

"Sniper, go and get Shishi and tell him to go catch the Pineco to stop the Pineco from hitting the ground, okay?" he said tiredly. Sniper gave him the quickest of nods before flaring his wings and buzzing away. James stared at the Fast Ball in his hand where Torchic undoubtedly slept and heaved a sigh. He'd apologize to Lyle later, he decided. The way things were going, he stood a good chance of keeping his newest catch.

Grey slumped back against his Onix's rocky hide as Soul finished torching a Parasect and Venipede. The younger Thomas sibling gripped his head tighter at the flood of defeated groans that invaded his mind and grit his teeth so tight, he thought his incisors would break. He couldn't take it anymore; his mind felt full to bursting. All the pain, anguish, and distress coming in waves off the forest Pokémon; it was way too much to bear. He had never been able to tune in this well before and being forced to feel all of those emotions at once… Grey let out a strangled yell.

"This is torture!" he shouted only to immediately regret it once his headache flared. "I can't take this anymore! Everyone, please stop!"

_Grey, are you alright? _Soul asked worriedly.

_It looks like he's seriously hurting, _Strabi noted over Donte's cries of victory.

_Pull it together, kid,_ rumbled Maverick. _Don't let a little headache slow you down._

Patches of earth blew apart and pelted everything within range as the Taillow dropped the last of their live bombs. Grey ducked behind Maverick and peeked his head out only when he was sure the coast was clear. The wild Pokémon were either unconscious from fatigue or having been defeated or fleeing the battleground as fast as they could. Grey didn't blame them. Between the blackened grass and trees, residual flames, and scattered craters inhabited by knocked out Pineco, he wouldn't want to stick around either.

"Could be worse, though," he thought. Most of the trees were scorched or eaten but thankfully still stood but the damage done was heavy. Considering the initial Fire Blast had engulfed more than half of the orchard, it was amazing even this much was still alive. Grey rallied his Pokémon to him in order to get going when a red blur sped in from out of nowhere and threw a glimmering uppercut into Maverick's lower jaw. The Onix, knocked out at the moment of impact, fell with a thunderous thud and added a new crater to the damage. Grey's team's attention snapped over to the assailant. A bright red Scizor stood proudly and silently atop Maverick's head, one claw pointed in their direction.

"Strabi, Shock Wave!" Before the command was even finished, Scizor was behind Grey with its pincers pressing down on Strabi's neck. The Shinx cub struggled to pry her attacker off and desperately shot off sparks to force it to release her but it only made Scizor increase the pressure. Strabi cried out for help and Grey's headache exploded as his sensory powers took a leap in ability

Soul launched a Dragon Rage into Scizor's back, making it drop Strabi, and rushed it with a Fire Fang. The salamander clamped his flaming jaws around Scizor's leg and forced the Pincer Pokémon down on one knee. Wincing, Scizor batted Soul away and barraged him and his team with a Bug Buzz attack that only served to aggravate Grey's headache more.

_So you don't like loud noises, do you?_ Scizor hissed menacingly. It forced itself onto its injured leg and increased the rate of its wing beats to amp up the power of its attack. Grey had to think fast. He searched his mind for any information about Scizor amongst the deafening cries of the Pokémon and managed to find something that would help.

"Scizor heat up by flapping their wings," he recalled. "They're part-Steels, too." His eyes fell upon his Charmeleon and a plan formed in a second. Dashing over and picking up his fallen Shinx before running back behind Soul, Grey shouted over the Bug Buzz,

"Soul! Heat up the area!"

Soul flared up his tail and started waving it around with the rhythm of a metronome. With each passing wave, the air temperature rose in leaps and only got hotter the angrier Soul got. His anger peaked and his tail flame responded by turning blue from the heat. The air was broiling now, forcing Scizor to stop beating its wings lest it overheat and pass out. Begrudgingly, Scizor turned tail and jetted away, moving up the hill and back to its master's side.

Grey followed the armored insect's path until his eyes set upon the man nestled between a Magmortar and his returning Scizor. The man was dressed in a crisp brown military uniform and seemed to notice Grey's burning gaze on him when he chose to respond with a cool glare of his own. Through the murky haze of his throbbing skull, Grey saw the device the man carried and his condescending smirk and somehow knew that this man was responsible for everything that had happened at the orchard. His headache subsided as the fury hidden under the pained moans of the defeated Pokémon made itself known. He sensed their rage bubbling up and meld with his own anger. How could anyone do this to innocent Pokémon when they themselves were a Trainer? Then he remembered the two grunts that assaulted him and James when they cleared Geo Pass and made a small connection.

"You bastard!" he roared, accompanied by Soul's hiss and Donte's trumpeting. "Who are you?" William heard the boy as clear as day but chose not to answer. Instead, he pointed at Grey and said something to his Magmortar who then launched a Flamethrower attack down at him. Soul jumped in the way of the attack and countered it with a Dragon Rage. The resulting blast generated more smoke that, once dissipated, revealed the man and his Pokémon to have left.

Grey solemnly got to his feet, fists and teeth clenched, fighting the urge to go punch something.

_Grey?_ Soul asked carefully.

"Whoever these guys are, Soul," he snarled with the fury of the other Pokémon backing his words, "they went and crossed the line. And it looks like they got something against us."

* * *

**Dear lord. This was one long chapter. Now we jump straight into the main plot so expect more activity from Team Regal and a whole messload of character development and Pokémon growth. A lot happened and, hey, I'm back now, guys. Consider this my letter of return and I hope you enjoy the chapter. Tell me if there's anything I can do to make the story better as a whole or if there's something you'd maybe like to see and I'll see what I can do. Comments and (constructive) criticism are always welcome so drop a review. Look forward to more and wish me luck in my senior year!**

**Sincerely,**

**Brave Soul RMS**


	18. Tales of Springbloom City I

**Okay, guys. I told you we'd jump into the main plot and jump we shall! Now, to recap things, Team Regal just took the kid gloves off with the completion of their Frequency Net and William just confirmed the fact that Otto has a hit out on Grey. Now, the hit won't come into play for a long while but it's still a central story element because, well… You'll see. I don't want to spoil anything. But just to give you guys a taste of what's to come in this, the "gateway chapter" into the main plot:**

**1. Pokémon Special-style battles! That's right, Trainers are gonna be on the field with their Pokémon during battles now! I've wanted to do this for a long time so I'm just as excited as you guys.**

**2. Character bonds start forming, specifically between Grey and June and Rachel and James. How this'll work out is very interesting to say the least. The most I'll tell you is that these bonds start affecting everyone involved in a good way.**

**3. The mystery of Grey's ability starts to come to light a bit. Why is he able to understand Pokémon, and will that surge in his abilities be for better or worse?**

**4. One Pokémon belonging to one of the main characters gets injured and therefore made unable to battle. That Pokémon will be removed from the team and their Trainer will have to find a replacement.**

**5. New OCs get introduced! Get ready to meet Eric Holland, Asher McConnell (both belonging to RARavary) and Angelica Lane (property of Lolli-S).**

**6. Last but not least, the group experiences a schism. I will say nothing further, just know that it will be of titanic proportions.**

**Now, let's get this party started.**

* * *

**Chapter 018: **Tales of Springbloom City I

Soul had a vague idea of what it would be like to travel in a foreign region. Being born and raised in Almia by a Pokémon Ranger's son had him moving between Almia and its sister region every other week, and with Fiore being so similar to Almia, Soul came to think that all human towns were the same. With their foray into the Silver Ring came pleasant surprise for the little dragon; Pacific Town, Knight City, and Mélange Town were all vastly different from what he'd seen, each with its unique features and charms.

He had been hoping for Springbloom to continue the trend. The city did not fail to deliver.

The view from the hilltop was amazing. Springbloom was made up of two sections: the lower ring, which could be seen from where they stood, and a truly impressive skyline in the center of the homey terra cotta circle that was no doubt the city's central hub. The Cloud River carved its path into the lower ring, bisecting the wide streets lined with cobblestone and verdant greenery even more abundant than the likes of Mélange Town's. Cement bridges crossed the Cloud every few hundred meters. Stone buildings with earth-toned tile roofs were packed cozily together along with the gargantuan trees unique to the city. The threshold into the urban section of Springbloom served as the point where the river branched off towards the hunter green forest to the northeast, only to reenter the outer circle on the other side.

"It's marvelous!" June exclaimed in wonder. "I have never seen anything like this before. So much greenery and nature in an urban environment! Wonderful!"

Rachel hummed, intrigued by the city before her. "June, you live in the archipelago. You've never been this far out before?"

"No, never," said the redhead. She cast her gaze back towards the city with a fond smile. "The farthest I have been out is Mélange Town with my mother and we were only there on business. Never before have I been to this city, but I have read about it extensively." James produced a guidebook and flipped through to the most relevant page.

"And this is only the outskirts. Residential area, to be specific. Further in is where most of the happenings in the city take place. There's a department store, a bigger Pokémon Center, and even a battle stadium, but right here is the area where the Gym is."

"I'll make sure to give that stadium a look," Grey said to nobody in particular. He bent down to Soul, Strabi and Donte's eye levels and flashed his grin at them.

"What do you guys think?" he asked them. The Pokémon gave their affirmatives and Grey smiled wider, pointing dramatically at the city below. "All right! Let's get goin', then!"

And with that, Grey jumped ahead of the group with a loud shout and slid down the hill, his Pokémon in tow. Startled, Rachel ran after her brother screaming at him to be more careful with a giggling June following her. James gave a tired sigh and scratched his head. Eyes narrowing unintentionally as they fixed on Grey's back, he found himself both perplexed by the younger boy's behavior and muttering to himself as he released his team from their capsules.

"I just don't get it. Just two days ago, we were caught in the middle of an ambush attack that we were lucky to get out of in one piece. Now he's acting like it never even happened."

"Scytha?" Sniper wondered when he sensed tenseness in his Trainer's voice.

"Either he's got nerves of steel, Sniper, or he's just hiding how he really feels," said James. He shook his head clear of the thought and started down the hill after his friends. Torchic tottered after him and James allowed him to perch on his shoulder when the little one failed to keep pace.

James stopped in the middle of the grasslands and took his jacket off. The island heat was really getting to him. Either that or the recent anxiety; the attack had definitely left its mark on James. If anything, he considered himself a rational person, and a seemingly random attack on an innocent farmer's orchard was anything but rational. James had given the event thorough and serious thought and while he kept his ruminations to himself, he couldn't help but conclude that the attack could not have been a coincidence.

"Unless the person behind it just loves rampant destruction," he murmured. He shook his head clear of the thought. "No, that can't be it. That kind of person doesn't exist. That must mean it was planned." James sat down in the scorching grass and immersed himself in his thoughts. Not sure what to do, Sniper, Torchic and Luna waited patiently for James to finish. Shishi floated over and landed on James' head, his attempt at giving his Trainer some shelter from the sun.

The only logical explanation, James reasoned, was that the attack had a purpose behind it. Maybe Lyle owed someone protection money and that was his final warning? Maybe the competing farms had gotten jealous and wanted him out of the picture. Or maybe - and this was just a farfetched shot in the dark, he vehemently reminded himself - the person behind the attack had a target that was in no way related to Lyle. Maybe someone out there wanted him or Grey or the both of them incapacitated…or worse. The simple act of entertaining the possibility made James' blood run cold.

"That can't be it," he reassured himself. "Who could possibly want that? We don't have any enemies…. Well, I don't, at least. Neither does June; she's too sweet for that. That just leaves Grey and Rachel. The Troublesome Thomas siblings." Heaving a sigh, James fell onto his back and closed his eyes.

Rachel was a Pokémon Ranger, so it was only logical that some of the people she'd put behind bars would have a vendetta against her. That made sense and had a rational explanation behind it. It was something James could work with; something he could accept. Grey was the only anomaly. Sure, James knew the younger Trainer was a cocky greenhorn with barely enough skill to back up his temper, but was hotheadedness enough to warrant an attempt on his life? On the other hand, there was that incident Grey was involved in. In Mélange Town at the Museum Tower…

James groaned. Wild mass guessing was getting him nowhere and he had training to do. It would do him better to just put it out of his mind and think about it later, he decided. Getting to his feet (and displacing Shishi in the process), James forced himself into the right mindset and surveyed his team with a critical eye.

"Alright, everyone, let's get busy. This next Gym Battle is not going to be a cakewalk. So let's give it our all and make sure we get Torchic here up to speed, okay?" A collective shout of approval rose from each one of his team members and got him to crack a small smile.

James fished his Pokédex out of his pocket and used it to scan Torchic. The fire bird was little bit on the weaker side when stacked up against his other Pokémon but it was nothing a lot of training couldn't do away with. He might not last in the Gym Battle but Torchic could still be used in at least one round.

"Alright, Torchic. We're starting with you so I can get a handle on your abilities. Shishi, you're gonna try and dodge while Torchic opens up with Ember!"

"Tor!"

"Dusssskull!"

Torchic opened fire with a blazing Ember barrage only for Shishi to effortlessly glide out of the way of the unpolished attack. Going for a more physical approach, Torchic leapt up to meet Shishi and thrust his beak at the ghost in a vicious Peck attack. Shishi twisted his round form out of harm's way and floated back to what he thought was a safe distance. He was quickly proven wrong when Torchic's second Ember met its mark. James smiled. Torchic was a fast learner.

Realistically, he knew that he was still a novice Trainer. That was all well and good with him; it just meant that he had a lot of room to learn and grow and that was what he was looking forward to. But with the mastermind behind the destruction of Lyle's orchard still at large and no doubt hot on their trail, he did not want to be caught with his pants down when it came time to fight. He would need to get stronger fast and that's exactly what he planned to do.

"Mark my words, guys," he said over the ongoing scrimmage. "We'll be one badge stronger by the end of the week!"

* * *

"I like this place," Grey said as he and the girls entered the city. He cradled Strabi and scratched her head when she began purring. "The streets are wide, the architecture's really cool, and there's green everywhere you look. It's like this entire area's one big garden!"

"I know; the brown and beige from the buildings so close together really blends well with the trees," Rachel commented.

"You aren't too far off the mark," June chimed in with a laugh. "Springbloom City is known for incorporating nature with technology, and old architecture with new. Here, you'll find plants and flowers of all different species as well as many different Bug, Water, and Grass-type Pokémon. The plants are cared for by the local Pokémon population, those of which without Trainers deign to live in harmony with the citizens, and most famous of all these species are members of the Treecko line, the caretakers of the city's trees." she said as if reciting from a text book. "Which reminds me… Rosewood, if you will."

The Furret nodded and wound her way down to her owner's hips to dig around in her lab coat's pockets. Emerging, Rosewood released Sylva from her Poké Ball and the Grovyle immediately took to the trees. She was immediately greeted by three small Treecko curious enough to approach their cousin. Grey and Soul smiled at the sight. Donte, enthused and excited, gave a shrill trumpet that sent the young Wood Gecko Pokémon skittering away like frightened pigeons. Sylva was not amused.

"Don't be mad, Sylva," said June to her Grovyle. "There are more Treecko around here." She turned to the Thomas siblings and added, "Sceptile tend to live closer to the city or in the forest surrounding Springbloom Lake, and the other Grovyle find it comfortable anywhere in between."

Just as June finished, a Sceptile dropped down onto the cobblestone and removed a seed pod from its back. The Forest Pokémon crushed it into paste and applied it to the roots of the monster tree it fell from before leaping up onto the terra cotta roofs and dashing away like a master free runner.

_Cool!_ Soul cheered. He turned hopeful azure eyes up at Grey. _Can I learn to do that?_

"Dude, you get to fly once you become a Charizard," the boy answered. "That beats anything a free runner can do." Seeing his partner's grin fade and his look become downcast, Grey couldn't help but follow up with,

"But we'll do some training on it if that's what you really want." Ecstatic, Soul loosed a plume of fire and smoke.

"Still, to see a wild Sceptile freely roam a city full of people without being hunted down for capture is really cool," commented Rachel. "You're not going to scan it?" she asked Grey.

"Nah, I already know all about that one. They're called the Forest Pokémon 'n live in humid forests where the trees grow massive and are kings of arboreal combat. The blades on their arms are sharp as swords and they use their seed pods to nourish trees, even bringing sick ones back to health. They're wicked fast, their signature move is Leaf Blade, they're pretty cool with strangers so long as they don't harm the trees, and they get most of their food through photosynthesizing or hunting. Mostly through hunting. They regulate their body heat by sunbathing."

"Wow, Grey, I'm impressed," said June.

"I'm just surprised he knew the word 'arboreal'," Rachel said mischievously, Vulpix joining her in silent laughter. Her brother puffed out his chest and smirked in pride.

"Hey, I might not be the smartest but I'm not dumb, either. I did graduate early." June then grew inquisitive. This was new information to her.

"You did? When? How?"

"The schools in Almia have a program where soon-to-be Rangers can graduate high school early. Grey and I both went through it," Rachel explained offhandedly. "It's no big deal"

"You forgot to mention the part where I graduated a year earlier than you did," Grey cut in with a cheeky grin. "Yep, you may be Dad's favorite, but I managed to beat you in something."

Rachel frowned and rapped her brother on the head. "That's because I stayed back a year to take the advanced courses at the Ranger Academy, doofus." She huffed and added with evident disappointment, "Something you neglected to do."

The younger Thomas's grin slid off his face. Glowering at his big sister, he sulkily snapped,

"That's cuz I didn't want to!" before putting some distance between them. Exasperated, Rachel only sighed and crossed her arms while muttering something about idiotic younger brothers. Put off by the sudden mood whiplash, a distressed June struggled for a way to bring some life back into the tense and awkward situation she found herself sandwiched into. She found none. Repressing the urge to groan in frustration, Juniper cursed her luck for landing her in the middle of yet another sibling dispute. Sylva was smart enough to get out while she still could; her tail leaves were only barely visible as she leapt from tree to tree.

They made a turn on to Main Street, a wide cobblestone road bisected by the river, with no change in atmosphere. Wanting to get further away from Rachel, Grey pressed farther forward. The citizens of Springbloom were out and about now, chatting amiably with one another seemingly oblivious to the brooding teenager moving through their ranks like a man avoiding the plague. Soul and Donte trotted alongside him while Strabi remained uncomfortably silent in his arms. The appearance of the new and interesting Pokémon attracted small children to look and point in excitement and interest. The young Trainer sent them all scampering to their mothers with armor-piercing glares and a low growl or two. Each occurrence earned a disgusted snort from Rachel that only served to further aggravate her brother, eventually making the tension thick enough that June opted to fall back with her covert Grovyle rather than endure the heated silence.

That atmosphere prevailed to the end of the Main Street and into the Pokémon Centre, also roofed with terra cotta tiles to match the style of the architecture. The familiar building was attached at the back to a much larger structure of glass windows. Blooming within the center of the rectangular structure was a collection of trees extending high above the roof. Grey stomped up the stairs and shoved the door open and into an unprepared blonde Trainer in a wife beater and tan cargo shorts.

"Hey!" the Trainer barked indignantly at Grey's retreating back. He scowled and ran a hand through his spiky blonde gelled hair. Who did this kid think he was?

"Are you gonna apologize or not?" Stopping in his tracks, Grey didn't even face the blonde as ground out an apology.

"Sorry about that. Now go away." The blonde snorted derisively.

"Some apology, you little punk." Grey rounded on the other boy with no fear despite the blonde's tan biceps flexing defensively. Strabi hissed in her Trainer's arms and the taller boy only scoffed, unafraid. Sensing conflict, Soul rushed to his Trainer's side and readied himself to jump in should the situation come to blows.

"Grey, please don't fight," June pleaded in a small voice while Sylva shook her head in disappointment.

"Just ignore it and move on," Rachel commanded. Blatantly ignoring his sister, Grey proceeded regardless, and whirled around to face his antagonist.

"Listen, man," he growled, hazel eyes glowering up at the taller boy's bright greens, "I'm in no mood. All I wanna do is go and challenge the Gym Leader and get some training in."

Instantly, the hostile look on the blonde's face melted into an amused, condescending smirk. Digging into the pocket of his shorts, he produced a badge case and flashed its contents. A Geo Badge and Combat Badge stood proudly beside two unfamiliar ones. One was a four-pointed yellow star surrounded by a streaky white aura while the other was lime green and composed of two ovals placed on top of each other, the bottom larger than the top, with long and thin insect wings coming from their junction.

"You're gonna challenge Thatcher for the Thorax Badge, right?" the blonde Trainer asked. Smugness was draped over his words like a thick sheet. "Good luck, kid. Someone like you can't hope to take on a Gym Leader at your level." Soul, Donte and Strabi growled out a warning that went unheeded by the other boy. Grey bristled.

"And what d'you know about how strong I am?" he snarled. A handful of people in and outside the Centre turned their gaze to the argument while the combatants continued undeterred.

"No brat can be strong enough to beat a Gym Leader," the older arguer said matter-of-factly. "Bet you don't even have a badge to your name, whereas I have two. Eric Holland ain't no brat." He flashed Grey a toothy smirk, to which Grey pulled up his sleeve and thrust his arm out in response. Eric almost dropped into a fighting stance and relaxed only once Grey started to speak.

"Two badges!" he growled, referring to the ones on his wristband. "Geo and Combat. I ain't no brat either."

"Char!" Soul chipped in proudly. Expecting Eric's grin to slide ride off and for the blonde to admit his mistake, Grey was disappointed to see Eric smile even wider and laugh in his face.

"Two badges to my four! Try beating Thatcher like I did just now and come back later, kid," Eric boomed and before Grey could sling a comeback, he stepped out of the Pokémon Centre with a jaunty spring in his step leaving the boy and his Charmeleon silently fuming together while one by one, the people who had been watching went back to their own business.

"Jeez, what a jerk," Rachel muttered. "Forget about him, Grey. Guys like him aren't worth the effort." Her brother grumbled a short reply and approached the counter to have his Pokémon healed. June stayed near Grey while the resident Chansey took two sets of Poké Balls to the infirmary and Rachel went to the video phone.

"Excuse me, miss," the junior researcher began to Nurse Joy, "is there a library near by where one can do research?"

"Of course; it's right off Main Street. I'll give you better directions once your Pokémon are back to full health," Nurse Joy said with a friendly smile.

"Yo, Auntie, where's the Gym?" Grey asked gruffly. Nurse Joy's face grew puzzled.

"Auntie…?" Grey jabbed a thumb in his sister's direction and their relation became clear in an instant. "Ooh, I see. Well, this Centre is part of it. The Leader has a lot of Pokémon that he trains and houses in the Gym, so we attached the Centre to the Gym for convenience."

"Seems prudent of the Leader," June commented.

"Indeed. But he is very meticulous when it comes to choosing the Trainers he fights. You have to go through a registration process and then he'll assemble a team himself to battle you." Hearing this, Grey straightened up and loosed some of the anger accrued from his confrontation.

"So where do I register?"

"Right here. I'll just need your Pokédex and Trainer Card and I'll submit the application to Thatcher." Bemused, Grey handed his relative his Pokédex, prompting her to question him about a Trainer Card.

"I…don't have a Trainer Card," he sheepishly admitted. Nurse Joy cocked an eyebrow.

"Everybody has one, Grey," June cut in. "Look." From her pocket, she produced a green card with her name, picture, and personal information in bold black letters. She turned it over to display her signature on the back, right under the emblem of the Pokémon League.

"They serve as ID cards for every Trainer in the League," explained Nurse Joy. "They double as credit cards and licenses, too. It's illegal to catch and train Pokémon, or even buy Poké Balls if you don't have one."

Grey blood turned to frigid slush and his heart dropped into his stomach.

"Illegal…?" Now disturbingly aware of everyone that wasn't familiar to him, he fought to keep from shouting out spoke in an urgent and rapid whisper.

"June, you never told me about that!"

"Why are you blaming me? I didn't know you didn't have one!" June murmured defensively.

"I obviously didn't know I needed one!" countered Grey. He buried his face in his hand. "Oh, man, I am so screwed!"

"Is there a problem here, Auntie Joy?" Rachel approached the desk and placed Vulpix and her three other Poké Balls. Her suspicion shot up when she laid eyes on Grey's panicked face.

"What'd he do?" she deadpanned.

"Your brother doesn't have a Trainer Card and I was just explaining that he needs one to handle more than one Pokémon," Joy explained as Chansey took Rachel's Pokémon into the back room. "Otherwise, it's illegal."

Rachel seemed to go blank for a moment. All emotion left her face. Then she slowly and ominously turned on Grey with a positively livid expression. Grey audibly gulped as memories of his childhood began to surface. He could count on one hand the times he'd seen that look on his sister's face and it never failed to get the same reaction from him every time. Grey stumbled back, absolutely terrified, and silently called for his mother.

"Illegal?" she said in an enraged whisper that sent chills up Grey and Juniper's spines. "You didn't say anything about that, Greyson…"

"I didn't know; I swear!" Grey stuttered. "I never learned about that."

"You didn't think it was pertinent information for you to know?" his sister hissed snappishly. "You've been breaking the law! Greyson Isaac Thomas, I cannot believe you!"

"Uhm… If I may point something out…" The siblings' eyes turned to June when the redhead took that moment to speak up. "Well… Rachel, you don't have a card either…" The elder sibling's shift from enraged to fearful realization was sudden and jarring. Seeing an opening, Grey counterattacked before Rachel could recompose herself.

"That's right! I'm not the only person at fault here, Ms. Perfect!" he said triumphantly.

"But you didn't tell me - !" the elder Thomas began.

"Didn't you think that was pertinent information?" Grey quickly countered. Rachel sought help from her aunt and pleaded,

"Auntie, please, where can we get these cards? You need to tell us!"

"Well, luckily for you two," Nurse Joy said disapprovingly, "I don't sell out family and there is a registration exam being held tomorrow morning." The Thomas siblings' faces lit up in relief.

"What do we gotta do?" Grey asked enthusiastically.

"Just come prepared to answer a few questions on a written exam and take practical test on Pokémon care," said Nurse Joy. "Don't worry; I won't tell anybody about this," she added in a whisper.

Grey and Rachel breathed a synchronized sigh of relief. They registered with Nurse Joy for the classes and Rachel left to find a room and rest. Twenty minutes later, the remaining two received their Poké Balls and Grey immediately made to leave the Center with June in tow. He went east towards the forest while she chose to move left in the direction of the library, but then hesitated, looking back over her shoulder.

Juniper watched as Grey got farther away and considered her next move, face scrunched up in thought. She let out a little giggle and smiled, deciding to go after him.

"Grey, wait!" she called.

"What's up?" he asked, surprise apparent.

"I would like to come with you today," she replied sweetly. "To tell the truth, we do not talk often because we are usually working, so I thought it would be nice for us to take a break and get know each other."

"I dunno…" Grey frowned. "I planned to take Thatcher on ASAP, so…"

"Do you mean you do not want to?" June asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, no, no, don't get me wrong! I think it's a nice idea and all, but, y'know, I…" he trailed off without an answer. "I mean, I… What would we even talk about?" Juniper snatched his hand from him and dragged him off towards the town's exit without missing a beat.

"I am sure we can think of something!" she said confidently. "Come on!"

"I-If you say so…"

The two of them made the long walk to the Springbloom Forest in relative silence only broken by the sounds of their Pokémon conversing. Soul, Donte and Rosewood were the most talkative while the other four were relatively reserved. As they entered the forest, Grey immediately noticed it was much more vibrant and alive than the Mélange Woods were. The settting his eased his nerves about being alone with June a little but he was still uncomfortably silent around her. Finally, they reached a clearing in the center of the forest that housed Springbloom Lake. Grey shielded his eyes from the blinding light bouncing off the lake's surface and June sat herself down by the shore to cool her feet in the water.

The air around the lake was scores cooler than in the city or the surrounding forest. Now mid-afternoon, the summer sun hung high in the sky and shone brightly over the buzzing forest. Every Grass and Water-type Pokémon that lived near the lakeshore was out and about so as not to waste such a nice day.

"Sure is roomier in here than the last forest we were in," Grey commented uneasily. "Lighter, too." June burst into a fit of giggles.

"What?" Grey demanded, face tinged pink.

"That is all you can think to talk about?" she asked between breaths. "You act as if you have never talked to a girl before!"

_That's cuz he isn't good at it,_ said a smug Soul.

_Again, that sounds a little pathetic for a human,_ Strabi put in. _Odd, I just had a feeling of deja-vu._

"That's cuz I kinda…haven't," the boy admitted sheepishly. "No, wait, I mean, I have!" he hastily corrected himself, "but I've never been alone with a girl my age before."

"I'm a year older than you, though," the redhead pointed out.

"Don't remind me; that just makes it worse!" he groaned loudly. He sank to the ground and leaned against his Onix's rocky hide. "So embarrassing…" Breathing an amused sigh, Juniper strode over to him and took his hand. His attempts to respond became inelegant sputters and he let himself be led to the lake's shore and sat down next to June.

"Talk," she commanded. "Come on, I'm not going to bite. I promise."

"Uhm, okay…" Grey's eyes flitted around the area in a desperate search to find something to talk about. Ignoring the rather mellow assortment of wild Pokémon around them, Grey finally settled his eyes on the shimmering surface of Springbloom Lake.

"Uh… So… How 'bout that weather?" he finally muttered weakly. June immediately doubled over laughing. "Shut up! I'm not used to this!"

"Obviously not!" June howled. "I'm sorry!" Grey sighed.

"It's fine; I know that was a sucky attempt." He waited out her fit of laughter and kept his gaze firmly on the lake, cheeks burning.

_He's really not good at this, is he? _quipped Sylva from her perch in a tree.

_Never has been, _answered Soul. _Poor guy. _Maverick's only response was to rumble in amusement while Rosewood mimicked Juniper by laughing.

_I don't really get it. Is there something funny going on?_ Donte asked.

_You'll learn when you're older, _said Strabi airily, causing the Phanpy to trumpet in disappointment.

_I actually wish we could help him,_ said Rhea. _But, then again, we don't know much about this ourselves._

_All I know is that this is damn funny and I'm gonna keep watchin',_ Maverick commented.

"I can hear all of you!" shouted Grey to the Pokémon, all of whom flinched at the reminder.

"What are they even talking about?" asked June.

"Makin' fun of me," he mumbled."So what's up with this lake, anyway? It's really huge." Fed by the Cloud River, Springbloom Lake was absolutely massive and a perfect circle in the ground. So large, in fact, that the opposite shore was only just visible over the horizon.

"The lake was made by a meteor impact right on the river a few hundred years ago," said June. "It eventually filled up with water both from the river and the rainfall. Since then, it's become a nexus for the local Water Pokémon population." As if on cue, a truly giant Seaking breached out of the water wrapped in a glimmering veil of water and reentered the lake with a loud crash.

"Beautiful…"

"Yeah, that was really cool!" exclaimed Grey. There was silence between the two for a moment while the sounds of the forest went on in the background. It was June who broke the silence between them when Strabi decided to break from the group of Pokemon and nuzzle against her Trainer's arm.

"Interesting," she muttered. When fixed with a curious look by Grey, she continued, "You are a novice Trainer and usually, newly caught Pokémon are wont to disobey until they are convinced of the Trainer's strength."

"Yeah, I know," said Grey. "What's the look for, then?"

"Strabi has taken quite a liking to you despite her displaying rather proud behavior." June smiled brightly at him. "What I am saying is that you are very adept at befriending Pokémon." Grey took a minute to think while scratching behind Strabi's ears.

"Well, yeah," he conceded, "I am. Better at it with them than with other people but you already knew that. And you've seen how well I deal with Rae." He awkwardly looked out at the lake and laughed a bit. "Kinda hopeless in that field."

"Oh, no, you're not hopeless!" June said encouragingly. "Just out of practice, is all!"

"How can I be outta practice if I was never in the game to begin with?" he joked. "'S fine, June. I know I'm bad with people." A few more moments of silence. Then June asked in a small voice,

"Why do you fight with her so much? Siblings really should not fight." The younger boy turned away from the redhead.

"It's complicated."

"That is fine if it is too personal for you to talk about! I did not mean to be nosy, it's just… Family should not fight…"

"Nah, it's okay," he assured her. "If you really wanna know, I'll tell you. I've told this story a bunch of times before. Soul knows it by heart." The boy sighed and looked wistfully towards the sky, choosing his words carefully. June waited respectfully, thinking it rude to rush him and sate her curiosity faster. She must have tuned out everything else, she thought, for she was more than a bit startled by Donte's happy shouts as the Phanpy frolicked by the lakeshore.

"It's…complicated," he repeated.

"How so?"

"Well, you've seen how Rachel is and you've seen how I am. Regular sibling yin-yang. But it sorta…goes deeper than that." Grey looked as if just talking about this made him queasy. June fell silent and waited again. Grey took a deep breath and let it out through his nose.

"See, back home, Rachel was a prodigy. Always did everything right, graduated early, became a full Ranger when she was my age. And that was great for her because she _wanted _to be a Pokémon Ranger and follow in our Dad's footsteps. I…" Hesitation was clear in his voice. "I didn't. In a family where being a Ranger runs strong, I was the odd one out. I wanted to be a Pokémon Trainer instead."

"Would you mind telling me why?" June tentatively asked.

"I never really saw the point in being a Ranger," Grey explained. He stopped himself, thought, and shook his head.

"No, that's not right. I _did_ see the point; Rangers protect people who can't protect themselves. In Almia, you can't have more than one Pokémon and they don't sell Poké Balls, so unless your one Pokémon was real strong, you were kind of an easy target," he elaborated upon June's puzzled look. "So I did see the point, but I just never wanted to be one of them. I always hated going to the Academy and because everyone there was all 'Yeah, Rangers are so cool and anyone who doesn't think so is a freak!', I got made fun of a lot for not going with the crowd." He tried to hide it but, in that second, there was no mistaking the hurt in Grey's eyes.

"I didn't care," he lied. "And I told Dad what I wanted to do. He said I could do it once I got my first Pokémon and when I turned twelve, my Uncle Zack gave me Soul's egg." Soul chose then to trot over and place a claw on Grey's shoulder. Grey smiled at his partner. "We've been like brothers ever since." His expression darkened then.

"But then Soul hatched and I asked Dad if he'd keep his promise. He looked at me and said, 'Next year, son. Give Soul some time to grow'. I thought that sounded reasonable enough and asked on my thirteenth birthday. He said the same thing. Next year and the year after were the same and -"

"You got fed up with waiting and false promises," June finished for him, dejected. The boy's story was resonating with her despite her being unable to sympathize. Grey nodded. Picking up her Trainer's feelings, Strabi mewled and licked his hand consolingly.

"So, I ran away from home. That was in April, just after I turned fifteen. I think it's early June or late May now."

"But what about -" Juniper began.

"I know! My parents are probably worrying like crazy about me. Well, Mom is worrying; Dad's just angry at me for disobeying him," he muttered. He lay on his back and pushed his glasses up to rub his eyes, sighing. Soul sat loyally next to him, silent as the night. If anybody could understand Grey's emotions, June reasoned, it would be the his first Pokémon. There was a moment where nothing was said to allow Grey to cool off before either of them spoke again.

"What I did was stupid and reckless and horribly thought out," Grey said, his voice lighter than it had been earlier. "Yeah, I know. Rae won't let me forget it." He sat back up and chuckled. "But, y'know… I'm glad I did it."

"Despite the consequences of your actions," June clarified.

"The consequences…" he began slowly. "Don't mean anything."

"Grey!" shouted June, taken aback.

_Dude,_ admonished Soul.

"I know; it sounds horrible, but hear me out." So they did. "It's what I do _now_ that counts. I wanted the chance to be Trainer and now that I am, I love it!" His mouth stretched into a toothy grin that Soul couldn't help but emulate. "It's everything I ever thought it would be and I have free reign over what I do and how I do it and I've made some really good friends. I've got tons to learn, sure, but that's what I'm looking forward to the most." The grin disappeared as he became pensive for a second and added,

"I guess that's all I ever really wanted was the chance," he realized. Juniper visibly relaxed. She smiled and edged a little closer to the younger boy and said,

"So you got the chance. Now that you have it, what is it from here?"

"I really don't know." Grey admitted proudly. June slightly faltered.

"You don't know?"

"No, but that's the great part! I get to choose where I go from here." The grin returned in full force. "Never really thought about it til now, though. Guess I'll have to give it some thought."

"You guess," June said playfully, giving him a good-natured shove.

"What about you?" Grey was suddenly feeling much more comfortable. "What's your story?"

"Well, I am an only child, Rosewood was my first Pokémon and Mom gave me Sylva one year on a whim."

"No, why are you here? Traveling with us, I mean."

"Oh!" June lapsed into thought. "You know, I think it was a twist of fate. I was doing research in the jungle by Pacific Town and fell onto a wild Torterra and ended up riding it towards what I thought was my home. I ended up in the next town over and, well, I met you." She smiled. "An odd twist of fate, yes, but a fortuitous one nonetheless."

"You ever been traveling before?" Grey pressed on. June shook her head and called her Nidoran to her before continuing.

"No. Not on foot. I mostly went with Mom when she had business to attend to in other cities," she elaborated. "I travel with you now because I see it as a good field research opportunity. That and I admit I spent too much time in the lab," she added sheepishly.

"Nice," laughed Grey. "I'm the total opposite. I need to be outside, y'know?" Then he took off his shoes and socks and let the water lap against his feet. "Hey, what're you studying, anyway?" June lit up like a beacon.

"I am so glad you asked! You must know that, originally, I wanted to study the growing relationship between Trainer and Pokémon but that topic has been played to _death!_ So I decided to take the road less traveled and study the environment; specifically how it affects the Pokémon living in it and vice versa. I got the idea when I remembered the Torterra I met back in the jungle had a much darker shell coloration and the soil on its back looked so rich and there were so many nuts growing on its tree, it was amazing! So I guess you could say I switched majors from Pokémon Behaviorism to Pokémon Ecology and what better way to study that than to travel my home region, a new frontier no scientist has yet researched?"

Grey, Soul, Strabi, and Rhea simply stared, bewildered, at the ecstatic girl while their brains struggled to process what she just said.

_June just used Chatter!_ said Rosewood.

_It's super-effective,_ Sylva chimed in.

"Say that again…but slower this time," Grey said weakly. "I could barely keep up!"

"Sorry," June laughed. "I tend to do that when I get excited. But it really is an interesting field of study. I'm very glad I chose it."

"Back home, Poké-Biology was my best subject," said Grey.

"Oooh, that's a good one!" exclaimed June. "You could use it during training, too!" Grey snapped to attention.

"Really? How?"

"Well, each Pokémon is unique and has different biological structures that give them their abilities. If you study and get to understand your team in that regard, it may give you an upper hand in battle and make training easier." She held up two fingers and giggled. "Two for two."

"That's genius! Why didn't I think of that before?"

"Because you hardly think to begin with," the girl joked.

"Hey!" he said indignantly. He fixed her with a hurt look but quickly dissolved into laughter with the girl. "Fine, fine, I'll give you that!"

_Looks like they've become fast friends! _Donte noted as he left the water.

_Oh, good._ Rhea let out a relieved sigh. _The way this began, I thought it would have ended much worse._

_And here I thought I was the only one to thinkin' this was gonna be a train wreck,_ said Maverick.

"Shut it, old man," countered Grey. "Did you forget I can hear…" He trailed off, eyes widening in shock. "Wait a minute…"

He shot up like a rocket, startling June, and hastily strode over to the Pokémon to bend down to the coiled up rock snake's eyelevel.

"Say that again," he commanded.

"Grey, what's wrong?" June asked concernedly

"I could hear all of them," he explained, breathless, waiting for a bemused Maverick to speak while the other Pokémon watched just as confused. June tilted her head to the side and spoke slowly.

"But you can normally do that, yes?"

"It was clearer this time!" insisted Grey. "It's _never_ been this clear. I actually heard…voices! I usually just feel emotions but I heard their voices!"

"Come on, sit still!" a new voice shouted in frustration.

"Like that one?" asked June.

"Yeah, like that one!" Grey stopped and stood straight, turning in the direction of the voice. "Wait, no, that's a person."

"Toto-totodile!"

"And that's a Totodile…" said June.

"You want to go check it out?" suggested Grey. June shrugged her shoulders.

"They might need our help," she reasoned. "Come on!"

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**College applications. Invention of the Devil himself. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and leave a review! I'm off to read Free Spirits by OceanSpiral.**


	19. Tales of Springbloom City II

**For the first time since I started writing this story, I have almost nothing to say in the author's comments. I've been inspired. Inspiration has struck me like lightning and a meteor in quick succession and its source is The Sun Soul by 50caliberchaos, AKA my new god (of Poke-fics). Go read his story and see why I'm so jazzed right now.**

* * *

**Chapter 019 - **Tales of Springbloom City II - Gale of Change

"Sit still, darn it! Just let me catch you already!" The metallic thumping of Poké Balls hitting the forest floor rang out irregularly as an angry hissing persisted in the background. The young boy groaned his frustration growing as he took aim at the blue alligator for what felt like the hundredth time.

Juniper was the first to come upon the source of the noises and observed the scene with rapt intrigue. A well-dressed young boy – no older than fourteen, she guessed - with a round face and neatly kept brown hair stood opposite a small growling Totodile on all fours near the edge of Springbloom Lake. At the boy's feet was a large bucket filled to the brim with shiny new Poké Balls, and scattered all around Totodile's side of the confrontation were no less than a dozen broken or shattered ones. Grey and the Pokémon arrived after Juniper not a moment later and Grey immediately began to laugh once he had a grasp of what was going on.

"It's toyin' with him, that Totodile!" he said between peals of amusement. "I get it; this kid's gotta be a total newbie."

Juniper shot him a wry smirk and nudged him in the ribs with her elbow. "Just like you were a few months ago?" she asked before stifling a giggle. Still chuckling, Grey countered,

"Please. I was never that green." He turned his attention to the boy and called out to him. "Yo, kid! You're doin' it wrong!" Startled, the boy dropped the Poké Ball he was about to throw and stared the teenagers and their Pokémon, wide-eyed and afraid and more than a little bit impressed.

"First off," Grey began as he strode over to the boy while paying the Totodile no mind, "you need to weaken it with another Pokémon before you even think about throwing a ball." He bent down and picked up the dropped ball. "Second, you never face a wild one alone and third!" The boy jumped when the older boy's voice spiked in volume. Looking the boy dead in his deep brown eyes, the older trainer gave his junior a quick once over and frowned. "Third… What the heck's up with your outfit?"

The boy took one look at his clothes, a white dress shirt, blue and gold sweater vest and black slacks, and quickly grew defensive. "There is nothing wrong with the way I dress," he said incredulously. "And who are you?" His senior simply tossed the Poké Ball in his hand into the air and caught it, grinning.

"Name's Grey and for someone who I'm guessin' is a trainer, there are several things wrong with what you're wearin'."

"He is right, you know," Juniper supplemented. "Your manner of dress is highly impractical."

"I… Uhm, well…" the boy faltered. "It is?"

Before either trainer could give an answer, the Totodile, annoyed at being ignored, gave a second's worth of a warning growl and lunged at the round-faced boy with a deadly hiss, fang-lined jaws agape. Strabi was first to react; the little Shinx cub's fur needled as she sent a charge racing through her body and then dashed. Strabi jumped and tackled Totodile, her Spark attack sending the little blue crocodile tumbling away with a bruise and a numb body. Totodile fell out of the air and rolled to a stop at the lakeshore where it lay in a twitching heap while Strabi landed gracefully and triumphantly with a proud yowl.

"Good girl," the Shinx's trainer mumbled, fully on guard as Totodile struggled to its feet. Grey looked away for a second to check on the boy and saw him slump to his knees as his breathing grew labored thanks to a fear-induced adrenaline rush. Juniper flew to his side and when the Totodile shot forward again, this time with Scratch, Maverick jumped in front of the attack and took it, the blow doing nothing to his rocky hide. Grey wasted no time in taking that chance to strike.

"Soul, use - !" he began, but in the middle of the command, Strabi loosed a vicious snarl that drew the attention of everyone present. "S-Strabi?" the trainer stuttered, shocked. "What's goin' on? You never acted this way before."

The Shinx paid her trainer no mind as her eyes became golden slits trained on her target. The Totodile bravely met Strabi's challenge with yet another hiss that made the Shinx snarl again and bare her fangs. All of a sudden, the yellow rings on the cub's front legs shone with a golden light and begun to shoot off electricity while sparks arced across her sky blue and black fur. Strabi loosed another yowl, cowing her opponent, and her body became a blinding white silhouette. Chills ran down Grey's spine and an ecstatic grin appeared on his face. His Shinx was evolving!

Strabi's form expanded and grew taller as the light persisted. Her voice grew deeper and the sparks she generated grew in intensity until miniature lightning bolts ran from her head to the tip of her new tail. The evolutionary glow finally faded, revealing Strabi's new appearance as a Luxio to have remained mostly the same as before, save for the addition of a short scruffy black mane around her face and another pair of yellow ring on her front legs. The most noticeable change was in the Luxio's eyes; they had been a bright golden color before her change and were now sharper, meaner, and a darker shade. Any confidence Totodile had before promptly slid right off its face as a look of shock and fear overtook its features. Grey suppressed laughter when the water lizard's toothy jaw dropped open and its red eyes shrank, a look that practically screamed, _Oh, crap!_.

Grey looked to his newly evolved Electric-type and threw a hand out towards Totodile. The Pokémon froze with shock before promptly turning tail and sprinting deeper into the forest. "Oh, no, you're not gettin' away that easy!" shouted Grey. "Strabi, Bite!"

"Lux!" Strabi grunted, and she pushed off the ground, her new legs sending her forward by leaps and bounds. She easily cleared the gap separating her from Totodile and pounced on it, sandwiching the Pokémon's tiny body between hers and the ground, and chomped down its shoulder. Totodile let out a squawk of pain and lashed out at Strabi's face with its tiny claws but every swipe it took only made the young lioness bite harder. Then Strabi stood up, Totodile still locked in her jaws, and flung her catch to the side like a rag doll.

The blood on Strabi's fangs glinted in the sunlight and more flowed from the punctures in the Big Jaw Pokémon's shoulder. It rolled on its side to fix Strabi with a hateful glare but the second it opened its eyes, Totodile's vision flashed red and it felt itself leave the ground.

Grey strode over to the Poké Ball and smirked at it before suddenly tossing it at the feet of his shell-shocked junior. The boy shakily rose to his feet looked up at the older trainer from behind his bangs, struggling to form words. Behind Grey, Strabi sauntered over to her teammates and swished her tail about in a haughty manner. Ever amicable, Soul congratulated her with a pat on the back while a jealous Donte turned his trunk in the air with a huff and Maverick rumbled indifferently.

"It's okay," June said in a low motherly tone after the younger boy went silent and started looking at his polished-to-a-shine shoes. "We all get a bit scared sometimes. You were out here without a partner so it just seemed all the more frightening." The boy picked up Totodile's Poké Ball and said nothing even when the redhead put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"You were lucky we were out here, man," added Grey. "You really shouldn't be out in places like this without a Pokémon for protection." Realization flashed in the dark-haired trainer's eyes when he realized he didn't know the name of the boy he was talking to.

"Hey!" he said sharply, making the boy flinch.

"Wh-what…?" the younger answered, finally looking the teenagers in the eye.

"What's your name?" The boy blinked twice in confusion but cleared his throat and answered nonetheless.

"My name is Asher," he said in a meek mumble that Grey barely heard. "Asher McConnell. Thanks for your help…" Grey flashed Asher a bright grin and gave him a good-natured thump on the back, a gesture that almost threw the younger boy face first into the ground. Despite that, Asher straightened up with the smallest hint of a smile on his face.

Then he took a step back, looking at Juniper and Grey curiously. When the older boy asked what he was looking at and the girl tilted her head to the side, confused, Asher stuttered,

"Oh, n-nothing, it's just…" his feet shifted a bit and he averted eye contact. "You're really cool," he said to Grey, "and you smell like my mom," he mumbled at June. Grey beamed at the compliment and June, unsure of hers, gave a smile of uncertainty.

Grey snickered and nudged his friend. "You smell like a mom," he ribbed childishly. June merely shook her head and tried to flick Grey on the nose which proved difficult due to their height difference.

"Shorty."

"Hush up, you."

Grey and Juniper escorted Asher into Springbloom City chatting amiably with the boy the whole way back. After a quick introduction on the part of the older two, Asher explained that he was from a wealthy family in Rustboro City and that his father had arranged to have him sent to the archipelago so that he could 'build character' on a Pokémon Journey. Asher's recountal of the exchange between himself and his father was a somber one, so Grey cheered him up by reminding the kid of his new Totodile. Juniper told the boy that it was unlikely for Totodile to immediately warm up to him what with it being a newly captured Pokémon but promised to help Asher and Totodile get acquainted with one another tomorrow. Grey added in his two cents by saying if Asher treated Totodile like a friend, then the Pokémon would reciprocate and everything would be fine. They also said it might do the boy some good to get himself some new clothes. As Grey put it, dressing like one was going to church wasn't the coolest wardrobe choice. Their words boosted Asher's spirits considerably, and when they reached the Pokémon Centre, the sun had begun to hang low in the sky and Asher was in a noticeable good mood. The boy waved goodbye to his newfound friends and scurried into the Pokémon Centre to rent himself a room and get Totodile fixed up. June and Grey returned their Pokémon to their capsules, save Soul, Strabi, and Rosewood, and sat with each other on the steps of the Centre.

They sat in the waning sunlight with a comfortable wordlessness between them wherein Rosewood draped herself across Juniper's shoulders and dozed while Grey scanned his new Luxio with his Pokédex. Both trainers were smiling calmly with the only sound between them being a grateful Strabi's purring as she was scratched behind the ears.

Juniper was the one to strike up a conversation. "Well, that was interesting," she said, giggling. "Then again, interesting things always seem to happen around you, Grey."

"You think?" the boy answered absentmindedly. "If it's true, I never really noticed it."

June raised an eyebrow, a mixture of suspicion, disbelief, and surprise overtaking her features. "Are you being serious?" she asked slowly. "I mean, I was joking, slightly, but you have to admit that odd things happen around you."

The boy shrugged and shifted positions as Strabi rested her head in his lap and Soul dug around in his bag for something to eat. "Seriously, I never really noticed, June," he said truthfully. "And if weird stuff does happen around me, I sorta get caught in the moment of it and then I completely forget it ever happened." He shrugged again. "I've always done that."

"That's…" the redhead searched for a word. "Unusual," she finally said. "Very unusual."

"What's so unusual about it?"

June counted off on her fingers, "Running into those odd men outside of Geo Pass after we met Jameson; the incident at the Museum Tower in Mélange Town and, most recently, the random wild Pokémon raid on Lyle's orchard." She fixed Grey with a puzzled look that he returned with one of pleasant amicability. "You honestly mean to tell me that you do not find any of that the least bit concerning or important enough to remember?"

He laughed once. "Okay, when you put it that way, it does sound a little bit sketchy, don't it? Maybe a bit connected, too." Rising to his feet and dusting loose Pokémon hairs and dirt from his jeans, Grey stretched and continued with marked indifference, "But that doesn't mean it's got anything to do with me. I just ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time."

The girl turned her gaze to her hands and fiddled with her fingers. Biting her lip, she looked back up at Grey, trepidation and concern shining in her big gray eyes. "Are you sure? You said you encountered a man with a Magmortar and a Scizor when Lyle's orchard was attacked and there have been reports lately…" Grey's eyebrow shot up in interest.

"Seriously? Dude, I didn't know that." June's face fell.

"That is because you do not pay attention to the news," she deadpanned. "Which you should!" she added quickly when Grey opened his mouth to rebut. Rosewood started on her perch and chattered, annoyed, and the boy and his Charmeleon flinched at her tone. It was strict and harsh yet well-meaning all the same.

_She is just like a mother,_ Grey thought to himself. _Wonder how I didn't notice before._ Pushing the thought out of his mind, he walked up to June and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. He felt the girl tense for an instant but smiled when she relaxed.

"June, chill. That dude from the orchard was dressed like those guys from the tunnel, yeah." Juniper's frown deepened and she readied a response in her head but her friend cut her off. "But that doesn't mean anything to us. If they try anything, the authorities will get 'em. International Police agents are trained for stuff like this and I bet they're in the archipelago now takin' care of business."

"But how can you be sure?" she pressed.

"I'm not," he responded with a shrug. "But it's the most logical outcome, right? Everything'll be fine."

And just to be sure, he gave her a smile that Soul copied while Strabi nuzzled her leg reassuringly. Juniper let out a held breath and surrendered. She had to admit that Grey had a point; he had never done anything to directly anger anybody. Well, she amended mentally, not anyone that would want him hurt or worse. The fledgling researcher managed a small smile and Grey grinned.

"Okay," the girl conceded. "Okay, maybe you are right and I'm just worrying but still, be careful, okay?"

"Who do you think you're talking to?" countered a still grinning Grey as recalled his Pokémon and started up the stairs to the Pokémon Centre doors. "Careful's my middle name!"

"Your middle name is Isaac, after your maternal grandfather," June said matter-of-factly. Grey stumbled mid-step but Soul was quick enough to catch and right his trainer before he fell.

"Who told you that?" he asked incredulously.

"Rachel." The younger Thomas sibling scowled but, not wanting to worry his friend further, quickly wiped the look off his visage and shrugged.

"Figures," he muttered. Choosing to ignore it, he beckoned June to follow him into the Centre, shivering a bit when a rush of artificially cooled air ghosted past him.

"Seriously, though, be very careful when you're out, okay?" she persisted as the pair and their Pokémon took a left into the food court. He nodded in response and flashed her a thumbs up.

"Alright, alright, I'll be careful," Grey promised, grabbing a tray and getting into line, "just don't worry so much; you're my friend not my mom." When June's eyes widened before she smiled brightly at him, he followed up with a bemused "What's with the look?"

"I did not know you considered us friends!" she cried jubilantly, startling some of the other people in the cafeteria. The young man in the Arcanine jacket reached up and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Yeesh, talk about mood whiplash."

"Sorry, it's just that you never said anything about considering me a friend before. I guess it's just nice to know?"

"I get that. What I don't get is why you would think I wouldn't call you my friend," the boy answered, honestly and simply.

June reddened slightly but her beaming face remained. Grey returned the gesture in kind and the two paid for and ate their meal, chatting like they'd known each other since childhood. Later, James arrived at the Centre and dropped off his Pokémon to be treated. He looked haggard and tired and wore an expression no-one had ever seen on his face: a wide ear-to-ear grin. He dropped off his Pokémon at the front desk and, when his two traveling companions noted and pointed out how unlike himself James seemed as he approached them with a noticeable spring in his step, his smile grew wider and said that they'd see why he was so happy tomorrow when he took on the Gym Leader. James said nothing more on the subject and proceeded to eat more than either Juniper or Grey had seen him eat. After eating and retiring to their rooms, James kept all of his Pokémon in their Poké Balls and refused to let them out like he usually did, grinning the entire time. Grey eyed his companion's four Poké Balls suspiciously while the older boy silently went over his training notes, but the thought faded from his mind the moment his head hit the pillow.

"Tomorrow," James whispered excitedly, still grinning in the darkness and holding Sniper and Torchic's capsules in the air above him. "Tomorrow, that Gym Badge is all mine."

* * *

"Alright, everyone, we will begin the written portion of the certification exam now." Thatcher looked out over the testing hall, a large rectangular room with rows of windows on either side and a large image of the Thorax Badge emblazoned at the room's front, and took a pause as the applicants vying for their Trainer Cards awaited further instruction. Most of the applicants were no older than twelve but the two siblings related to the local Nurse Joy he knew so well sat side by side looking confident. This was the final portion of the exam, he thought, and they had both scored exceptionally on the two previous parts. In his opinion, they had a right to be.

"You'll have forty-five minutes to answer seventy-five multiple choice questions and twenty-five short answer questions, each counting for one point. You need to score a seventy or above to be certified. When you're done, come up and hand it to me, then you're free to go. Your time begins…" Thatcher checked his watch and waited for it to strike noon. "Now."

It went quiet in the testing hall, all except for the occasional _scritch-scratch_ing of pencils on paper. The Thomas siblings, both wearing identical confident grins, dove into the test with full intent to pass. All of the questions were concerning Pokémon care, battle basics, and type match-ups, with the latter two making up the majority. Grey blazed through the test like it was nothing to him; his pen never stopped moving and the answers popped into his head the second after he read the question. Rachel started off strong, her Ranger training having armed her with much knowledge on Pokémon care. As soon as the test transitioned into the questions about how Pokémon types matched up and which items they could hold and which strategies one would use in battle, she fell short. She only knew a handful of the answers pertaining to those and the ones she didn't know were either left blank or answered to the best of her limited ability.

"Which type matches up best against the Dragon type? A – Dragon, B – Normal, C – Water, D – Steel, E – None of the above," Rachel read under her breath.

_Okay, well I know Water-type attacks do half damage and normal is neutral to everything but… Was it Dark or Ghost? Whatever; it's neutral to Dragon meaning A and E are the only answers left. _Rachel desperately stared at her test paper as she weighed the two answers in her head. _Agh! I don't know this crap! …Maybe beating it in a staring contest will get it to give up the answer…_

So she stared.

And stared.

And stared. And a full two minutes passed before she blinked and groaned under her breath in frustration and let her head slump onto her desk with a thump.

_This is impossible! _she lamented to herself. _A test on the worst possible thing they could have tested me on; am I being punished for something?_

To her right, she heard her little brother snickering at her misfortune as he answered the last question on the test. The boy stood and strode over to Thatcher to hand over his test and leave the room. As he passed his sister, he flashed the biggest, smuggest grin he could muster before laughing quietly to himself and leaving the room. Silently fuming, Rachel made a mental note to get back at him for that before focusing her full attention on the test before her. She blocked out everything else, unaware of the fact as time went on, the youngsters that occupied the room with her slowly dwindled in number until she was the only person left. Time passed unnoticed by her before, finally, she punctuated the last sentence on question number one hundred and stood triumphantly from her seat, test raised above her head like a flag of victory.

"DONE!" she shouted, spirits skyrocketing only to peter out and crash seconds later when she saw the time – two in the afternoon – and noticed that the only other person in the room was her aunt, sitting at one desk with her feet propped up on another while she read a magazine. Nurse Joy looked up from reading with an amused smirk playing on her lips as Rachel, embarrassed, coughed into her hand and recomposed herself.

"A-Aunty, you shouldn't scare people like that."

Nurse Joy only snickered and took the test from Rachel when the girl handed it over. "Good, now that you're done, you just have to wait a few hours for the official to grade them and process your Trainer Cards."

Rachel fidgeted and asked, "Can you look over my test now and give me an idea of how well I did?"

Joy shook her head and Rachel frowned. "Sorry, against the rules, hun."

"Awwww!" the girl groaned. "Please? I think I might have failed and I've never failed a test before in my life!" The nurse put a comforting hand on her stressing niece's shoulder.

"I'm sure you did fine. Now, let's get you something to eat and calm your nerves, hmm?"

"I don't want to calm my nerves!" she shouted, "I want to pass this test!" She suddenly lunged for the exam paper but her aunt was quick enough to move it out of the taller girl's reach. "Come on! Give it; I need to change a few answers; please!" Rachel threw her arm out and managed to brush the edge of the paper with the very tips of her fingers but Nurse Joy danced out of reach and stuffed it in between her magazine while shooting Rachel a disappointed glare.

"But - !" Rachel started.

"No! That was completely undignified!" Nurse Joy said harshly. "You'll get the results back tomorrow." The elder Thomas sibling slumped back into her chair with a long drawn-out sigh, face in her hands.

"I am so dead…" she moaned.

"I take it we're interrupting something?" came the sound of Thatcher's amused voice. The rosettes turned to the Gym Leader to see his long face twisted into a sly smirk, one hand on his hip and the other scratching his stubble. James stood behind him confidence apparent on his face as he practically bounced in anticipation. Rachel's face went beet red as a mortified look flashed across it.

"How much did you see?" she asked, dreading the answer.

"Pretty much all of it," the two young men answered. Her face went right back into her hands and her head receded into the collar of her uniform jacket, muffled words of embarrassment whispered under her breath.

"Leslie, we're here for a Gym Battle," Thatcher said to Nurse Joy as if Rachel's making a fool of herself hadn't happened. He dug into the pocket of his gardener's jumpsuit a hair tie and a tooth pick, and as he put his reddish-brown hair into a low ponytail, he told Leslie to go get the flags to prepare.

"Yo," James grunted in greeting as he approached Rachel. "What was that about?"

"My certification exam," she grumbled in response when she finally looked up at the brunette. "I think…" She grimaced as if she'd just downed a cupful of lemon juice and forced the words out. "I think Grey might have actually beaten me..." James faked a wince.

"Ouch, rough. I take it this is a heavy loss for you?" Rachel glanced up at him with a venomous deadpan look that made the boy recoil in earnest. "Message received…"

"Yeah," grunted Rachel. She got up and shuffled her way towards the exit like a zombie, all vitality gone.

"Hey, where're you going?" he asked incredulously. "You're not gonna stick around to watch?"

"Food. Nap. Work. Bye."

James frowned. "Thanks for the support!" he shouted at her retreating back.

"Ignore it. Let's just get the ball rolling, kid," Thatcher called from the previous room. James's hand immediately moved to hover over his belt before he followed Thatcher in and took a look around. James knew beforehand that Thatcher's greenhouse and the battlefield were one and the same, making it the largest one James had set foot on. It was sweltering and overrun with vegetation and Pokémon, either wild or owned by Thatcher, moved freely through it. The Gym Leader led James into a cleared area where Nurse Joy and the official battlefield stood in waiting before calling to his Pokémon and going off into the cover of the dense foliage. James noted the obvious menagerie of Bug-types following behind Thatcher, including an oddly dark-colored Scyther slightly smaller than his own, but also saw a few that didn't fall under Thatcher's type specialization like a Marshtomp and Sudowoodo. James didn't have to wait long for Thatcher to return hands shoved in his pockets and an anticipatory smirk on his rugged features.

Suddenly full of energy, he stretched out his back and announced, "Alright then! Since you chose a Classic Style battle, we'll be fighting here instead of using the entire garden like I usually do. No big deal; I'm glad to accommodate."

"I'd have chosen Special Style but I'm not exactly familiar with it," James admitted scratching his head sheepishly.

"No sweat. Make it up to me by making this a fun battle for the both of us, 'kay?" James said nothing but eased himself into a ready stance as Nurse Joy took the referee's spot in the center of the field. Thatcher was utterly and kept both hands in his pockets, his stance loose and relaxed.

"This is an official Gym Match between the Gym Leader of Springbloom City, Thatcher, and the challenger, Jameson Rhodes of Fuchsia City. The chosen battle style is a four-on-four single battle in the Classic style. Each trainer will use four Pokémon with unlimited substitutions. The first side to have their Pokémon rendered unable to battle loses the match."

"Let's get this fight underway, then!" James said, impatient.

"Hold on, there's one more stipulation Leslie didn't talk about yet," Thatcher said coolly.

Leslie continued, "The entire botanical garden will be the stage for today's battle. However, the full scope of the field will not be accessible until the Gym Leader gives the command."

"The entire garden?" repeated a flummoxed James. "Why?"

"Makes the battle that much more fun!" cried Thatcher. "What," he began as a grin to rival Grey's took form on the man's face, "you're not scared, are ya?" James scowled and gripped a Poké Ball tight.

"As if. Let's get it on!"

"Just what I wanted to hear!"

Nurse Joy raised her flags above her head and looked between the two competitors. "Let the battle begin!" She brought her arms down and jumped out of the way as two streaks of light took form before she even finished her sentence. Sniper took the field opposite a large Beedrill whose buzzing wings drowned out Thatcher's lightning-fast order to attack.

"Twineedle!" the older trainer commanded his insect. The bee zoomed forward not an instant later with both its javelin-like hands extended and trained on Sniper's chest. The Scyther's trainer gave no order and instead left it up to his Pokémon to act; Sniper ducked under Beedrill's line drive attack and dashed to the other end of the battlefield with his blade-arms at the ready. Beedrill stopped on a dime right in front of a nonplussed James and turned to attack again. Sniper slid his arms between Beedrill's lances and pushed them apart before striking wasp-like Pokémon with a brutal head-butt.

Dazed, Beedrill quickly distanced itself from its opponent and increased its buzzing's volume in fury. "Easy, buddy!" Thatcher called and Beedrill's buzzing ceased as it landed. "No need to get so riled up so early, okay?" Grudgingly and without taking its eyes off Sniper, Beedrill acknowledged Thatcher with a nod and raised its lances. Then James called out,

"Sniper, I've finished the preliminary analysis!" The Mantis Pokémon allowed itself a tiny smirk of anticipation and raised his guard. Hearing that, Thatcher silently prepared himself for whatever was to come next and opened his mouth to speak, only to be cut off by a gust of wind tousling his hair when Beedrill was sent rocketing backwards and past him. Sniper was now directly adjacent the Gym Leader with his shoulder lowered after having blindsided his opponent with Quick Attack. Beedrill recovered and launched into a rage-fueled Fury Attack. Sniper took to the skies and danced around the Beedrill's furious stabs with unparalleled skill. Beedrill would stab and Sniper would parry the hit. Once, twice, three times this happened until Beedrill broke through Sniper's guard with a feint and landed two good hits on the mantis's upper arms.

"Beedrill!" Thatcher boomed, catching his Pokémon's attention in the middle of its barrage. "Calm the hell down! Agility!" Beedrill relented and beat its segmented wings at a rapid pace concentrating on boosting its speed. "Now Aerial Ace!"

If Beedrill had possessed a mouth, it would have been twisted upwards in a sadistic snarl. Sniper returned to the ground a split second before Beedrill tore after him and suddenly appeared in his blind spot. The green insect only had a fleeting moment to whirl around and block the first lance before getting slashed across the chest with the other. Annoyed and wincing, Sniper kicked Beedrill away and looked to James for an order.

"It's fast but not as fast as you," the trainer said confidently. He threw a hand forward and narrowed his eyes at Thatcher's Beedrill. "Let's end this in two swipes!" Sniper nodded and let out a short, sharp cry and dropped his stance, bending his knees and leaning slightly forward while bringing his right arm down to his left hip and straightening his wings.

_Two strikes._ he murmured to himself as he turned his blades' edges outward. He cocked his head at Beedrill, daring it to make a move.

"As if," Thatcher said. "Beedrill, Focus Energy into Poison Jab and make sure you don't get hit!" Happy to oblige, Beedrill filled its lances with its potent poison like a doctor fills a syringe and once again beat its wings furiously. Already familiar with Focus Energy, James noticed the slight twitches in Beedrill's arms and legs and accounted for them. A fraction of an instant later, it charged forward leading with its right and flying twice as fast as before.

"NOW SLASH!" James suddenly bellowed. It happened faster than either trainer could process; Beedrill's right lance was a mere foot from Sniper's chest – too close for the taller insect to dodge, Thatcher thought – and before anyone could blink, Sniper was standing with his back to Beedrill, right arm outstretched, while the Poison Bee Pokémon kept flying and stripped away a chunk of bark from one of Springbloom's monster trees with its attack. The insect slumped against its accidental target and slid down the rough bark leaving a wet green smear on it. Sniper straightened up and flicked green fluid off of his blade before turning to his fallen opponent and bowing.

"Beedrill is unable to battle," declared Nurse Joy. She raised the green flag in James' direction. "Scyther is the winner." Said Scyther's trainer released a held breath. He hadn't anticipated Beedrill being able to match Scyther's speed even with an Agility boost, nor had he expected Sniper to get hit. To an untrained outsider, it would have looked as if James were the stronger battler but he knew full well Sniper was pushed near his limit with dodging and blocking alone.

"Critical," grumbled Thatcher. He held out Beedrill's Poké Ball and recalled it, thanking it for a job well done. "You didn't even need two hits," he said to James. The challenger merely smirked and nodded his head in his Scyther's direction. Sniper preened at the show of approval and returned to his trainer's side.

James put a fist in his palm and bowed to his Scyther who returned the gesture in kind. "Outstanding, Sniper; excellent work as always."

"Scythaaa…"

"You know, something, kid, there's something weird about you," said Thatcher. He took another Poké Ball off his belt and examined it thoughtfully before replacing it and choosing another.

"Not bad weird," he corrected at Jameson's slightly affronted expression, "like special. I ain't seen many kids your age that can keep so calm and act so efficiently. Most of them just charge in without a plan. That and your Scyther is obviously well-raised. I should know." There was a slight tone of pride in the Gym Leader's voice at the end of his statement but James ignored it and accepted the compliment.

"Thank you," he said politely. "It's nice to be acknowledged by a Gym Leader in such a way."

"But you know…" Thatcher said threateningly. He locked eyes with the young challenger and James fought back the urge to flinch. Thatcher's calm easygoing mask had morphed into the face of a warrior. Part of James wanted to curse his luck for knocking out Beedrill so easily; it only meant that Thatcher would make this battle that much harder. But, at the same time, James wanted a tougher battle. A victory is that much sweeter when it's won after a hard fight.

"Beedrill won't be happy if I just up and lose after letting her go down like that," the Gym Leader said in a low voice. He opened the Poké Ball in his hand and allowed himself a smirk. "And you can bet that I'm not going to disappoint her. Better bring your best, kid. This just got real."

At first there was silence as James took stock of the Pokémon materializing before him. Slick teal skin marked it as a Water-type, and a strong sturdy build with thick arms defined it as a heavy defender, something Sniper would have some trouble cutting through. James didn't have to take his Pokédex out to recognize his opponent's next choice; the Marshtomp he'd seen earlier psyched itself up and thumped the ground.

James grinned.

"Wouldn't have it any other way," he said just as eagerly as Marshtomp presented itself. He called Sniper back into his ball and released his laughing mad Zangoose to take on the blue mud fish. "Luna, I'm gonna need all your power for this!" Picking up on her Trainer's drive, Luna unsheathed her claws and tore out a good chunk of the earth in a display of power. Marshtomp was unimpressed but grew visibly more excited.

_This is gonna be good,_ he thought aloud.

_My thoughts exactly,_ said a fervent Luna.

"Let the record show that the battlefield is officially open. Move anywhere ya want, kid," Thatcher said before nodding at his referee-slash-nurse.

"Round two: Zangoose VS Marshtomp!" Nurse Joy announced. "Fight!"

"Crush Claw!" James roared as the adrenaline surged.

"Marshtomp, Take Down!" Thatcher bellowed at equal volume.

The two combatants charged for one another spurred on by their trainers' encouragement and with no desire for anything outside of dealing damage. A loud thud rang out followed by a strident scream and a low rumbling shout. The battle was now truly underway.

* * *

Grey shifted on the stone bench he and Soul occupied as he ruminated over what Lucas had relayed to him. He crossed one leg over his knee, folded his arms and closed his eyes in thought before, finally,

"So you're saying that we've got some kinda power?"

The man had garnered the boy's interest at the mention of their being similar in more ways than one, and had just finished explaining on of the possible origins of Grey's ability. After having his test graded and getting the highest score of all the applicants, Grey was handed his official Trainer Card by the resident League Offical and spotted Lucas in the Pokémon Centre shortly after. The boy recounted the events of Mélange Town and Lyle's orchard after making small talk with his senior before being told there was something he needed to know out of the blue. The two then relocated to the courtyard in Thatcher's botanical garden to sit and chat away the other trainers and their challenges to battle.

Lucas, Solace in his arms and Oberon the Ursaring at his side, took a look around at the paved marble courtyard and breathed deeply as he formulated a response. How best to make it simple to understand without patronizing the kid? He supposed that it would be best to give a demonstration first.

"You and I, Grey, we're two of a kind," he began with a grand gesture towards himself and the younger Thomas sibling in turn. An annoyed Soul grew leery and hissed under his breath at the man but Lucas ignored it and went on. "Not many other people can bond with Pokémon like we can and it's all thanks to our gift."

"The fact that we can talk to Pokémon, right?" the boy asked.

"Exactly!" said the older loudly. "Where other trainers struggle to understand their partners and befriend new captures, it comes as easy to us breathing. Observe." Checking to see if he had the boy's full attention (he did), Lucas set his Leafeon and shook his arm out with a flourish. He placed two fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly. A moment later, a wild Pidgeot swooped down from the treetops and landed in front of Lucas, scattering leaves with its wings as it did, and cocked its head curiously.

"_It's like it's one of his own,"_ Grey noted, enthralled. Then a slight doubt arose.

"Wait, that's not one of yours, is it?" he asked suspiciously. Lucas chuckled.

"Of course not. It's completely wild." He turned back to the massive bird Pokémon and knelt down to its eyelevel. Pidgeot went about preening its wings completely comfortable despite a near imperceptible edgy stance that bespoke of an awareness of the possibility of capture.

Lucas took his bag off and offered the Pidgeot a plump Oran Berry from its side pocket. Relaxing at the show of good faith, Pidgeot snapped up the berry without hesitation. Confident that he wouldn't be attacked, Lucas reached out and petted the Bird Pokémon's glossy crest feathers and smiled. "How are you doing, friend? My name is Lucas. It's quite nice to meet you." The wild Pidgeot trilled.

"So you say your name is Zephyrus. Interesting name." Pidgeot cooed and cocked its head at Grey inquiringly. "His name is Grey and you don't have to worry; he won't capture you." Grey visibly deflated and put away the Poké Ball he'd snuck out of his pocket.

"I couldn't hear her ask my name," he said somewhat glumly. "But either way, what kind of power is that? You psychic or something?"

Lucas chuckled again, sending an unnoticed chill up Soul's spine. "No, but my ability is often confused for that." He stood up and dismissed the wild Pidgeot with a wave before extending his hand at Soul. His eyes adopted a soft blue glow and Soul felt a foreign presence in the back of his mind that set him on edge. He hissed and snapped at Lucas for intruding into his thoughts and stood protectively in front of his partner with his fangs bared.

Sensing trouble, the hulking Oberon dropped on all fours and gave Soul a warning growl. The demi-dragon refused to back down and spat a few embers at the offending grizzly.

"Soul!" the boy admonished his Charmeleon. "I'm really sorry. I dunno why but he just doesn't seem to like you. But what is that? Your eyes glowed…" The lean dark-haired trainer took no offense and continued as if there weren't a small dragon ready to tear his throat out.

"I possess a rare ability called Aura. You may possess it as well, but I feel it's a bit too early to tell. No matter, though, as it's nothing a bit of training can't fix." Grey's eyes lit up.

"So I'll be able to do that?" he asked excitedly. Lucas grinned back at him.

"All that and more, my friend! Much more!"

"Alright!"

"But… Before that, I need to check something." Lucas cut in. Conversation between them stopped and Oberon and Soul's mutual animosity died down, leaving the area in a faintly eerie quiet. Lucas studied Grey with a critical eye before demanding the boy release his Pokémon and hand his Pokédex over. Grey obliged, though not without suspicion.

"Hmm…" the young man hummed thoughtfully. He took an inordinate amount of time examining the Pokémon, Grey thought. He studied a wary Soul before nodding and moving on to the newly evolved Strabi and doing the same. With Donte and Maverick, however, he tutted under his breath and straightened up shaking his head with obvious disapproval.

"What?" Grey asked, nervous. "Is there something wrong with them?" All of his Pokémon immediately threw him insulted glares and vocalized their displeasure.

"You're not going to beat Thatcher," Lucas stated as if it were fact. "Your Pokémon are too weak." Offended, Grey leapt to his feet and shouted,

"Hey, don't call 'em weak!"

"Phaa-aan!" Donte added angrily.

"I'm only giving my honest opinion," said Lucas. He raised a hand to calm his wary Pokémon and narrowed his eyes at Grey. "You haven't been training like you should, have you?"

"W-Well…" Grey faltered. It was true that he hadn't trained since arriving in Springbloom City but that was because of his need to get a Trainer Card or face consequences from the League. He explained all of that to Lucas but that only served to annoy the man further.

"Why did you not apply for one when you registered in Seabreeze?" he pressed. "Didn't you think it was important?"

"I guess I was just so excited, I didn't think about it," the boy answered defensively. "I dunno, I mean… What would you have done?"

"Thought everything through, that's what," Lucas countered harshly. Grey opened his mouth but closed it when he found he had no argument. "And another thing; you aren't thinking very smartly. For instance, your Onix."

"What about Maverick?" the boy challenged.

"How do you feed him?" the older trainer asked swiftly. He carried on regardless of the boy's stuttering. "You let him eat soil that he finds on his own, correct? No vitamins or specialized food or anything like that?"

"No, I don't –"

"Have the money to pay for it, correct? Not with three other Pokémon to think of. Your budget won't allow it."

"No… It's kinda hard just buying food and medicine for the four of them as it is."

"EXACTLY!" Lucas boomed, causing Grey to flinch. "Maverick is a behemoth of a Pokémon and requires more food and larger doses of medicine in order to achieve the desired effect. Ergo, he costs more money to maintain! You're just starting out and don't have that money _and_ you have three other Pokémon to care for. You should know your limitations and plan accordingly. Four Pokémon, I think, is too much for you to handle. Or, rather, two adolescent Pokémon, one youngling, and a behemoth are too much for you to handle. At the very least, you should be training a smaller Pokémon."

Grey and his team grew silent – Grey due to shame and his team due to quiet growing indignation – and Lucas went on to hammer his point in harder.

"You told me that before you challenged Kory, you taught Soul and Strabi one new move each. All well and good but did you even try battle training based off what you saw Jameson do during his fight? Moreover, you knew Soul was close to evolving but didn't capitalize on that and help him along before your battle. It would have given you the edge and you got lucky that he evolved at such a crucial point during the match. Your defeat would have been certain otherwise."

"I…" Grey stuttered. "I… I mean, I thought my training was going fine. James was a little father ahead, sure, but he wasn't all that powerful; I –"

"Need to step out of the Little Cup League and start training like a big boy?" Lucas interjected. "Yes. Yes, you do. Otherwise, you'll forever be in James' shadow and you'll never advance as a trainer. You need to look at your Pokémon's abilities, both as a species and as individuals and play to their strengths!" he emphasized.

"Devise new move combinations and cover their weaknesses by teaching them new moves or having their teammates compensate. You need to think of ways to use moves in unorthodox ways. They're a team for a reason and you're their leader and if you prove to be an incompetent one, they _will_," he said strictly, "resent you for it. An army is nothing without their general and a general is nothing without his army. That lesson seems to have evaded you until now."

Grey hung his head low, his hair obscuring his eyes, and stood stock still. He took a minute to take in and understand all of Lucas's criticisms and concluded that Lucas was right, no matter how much he wanted to disagree, and felt like kicking himself. Hadn't he been serious about becoming a trainer? Hadn't he fled to the archipelago for that exact purpose? Hadn't he dreamed about living his dream since before he could even begin to remember? He clenched his fists tight and began to tremble.

"_Damn it!"_ he screamed in his mind. _"Damn it, damn it! He's completely right. I've been slacking off this entire time and got way too caught in the moment! I didn't take this seriously enough; I didn't prepare enough at all… I thought I was golden! And if this keeps up, Rachel's gonna be right and I'll never hear the end of it!"_ Grey wrested control of himself from his emotions and took a steadying breath. He felt that all eyes were on him now. It was his time to make a decision. Either cruise by and get left in the dust or man up and start learning.

"This was my decision," he said softly so that they had to strain to listen to him. "This is what I wanted. I thought I was taking it seriously and doing everything I was supposed to but there's more to it than just catching Pokémon and moving from town to town. Fine, I know that now. Or I guess I was reminded of it. I know things need to change."

Lucas smirked, and a moment later, recoiled in shock when Grey's head snapped up and an inferno roared to life in his eyes.

"But one thing is for _damn _sure!" he shouted at Lucas. "I am _NOT_ playing in the Little Cup League! If you say that one more time during our training, you can bet I'm gonna kick your ass!" Renewed and behind their trainer one-hundred percent, Grey's Pokémon rallied behind him with a collective shout of approval.

"Our training?" Lucas echoed.

"That's right," Grey confirmed, "you're gonna be training me. Since you had the nerve to call me out on that just now, you're gonna make it up to me by teaching me everything you know about being a trainer and I'm not taking 'no' for an answer, ya go it?"

Lucas grinned. "Well, alright, then!" Behind his smile lay a wide triumphant grin.

"_Just as planned,"_ he said to his Pokémon. _"If all goes well, Grey will be up to par in no time."_ Solace mewled her approval, ever the loyal follower, while Oberon gave a derisive snort.

"_We'll see,"_ the bear grumbled skeptically.

* * *

To say that the Gym Battle had escalated was an understatement. It had risen to fever pitch at the height of round two. Luna went down after a frenzied bout with Marshtomp that ended with the Mud Fish being heavily wounded and with Luna getting KO'd. Round three began with a battle between Shishi and an Illumise. The Illumise energy attacks proved a match for Shishi's maneuvering and crafty thinking but ultimately ended in a loss for Shishi when Illumise's Toxic attack took its toll. The next round saw Illumise fall at the hands of Sniper and the fight transitioned into a Scyther vs. Scyther match. Thatcher's oddly-colored Scyther and Sniper dueled it out like two master samurai while zipping around the battlefield and through the treetops with unbelievable speed. Both trainers were having significant trouble keeping their eyes on their Scyther and issuing orders quick enough to catch the other off guard. Nurse Joy had long since abandoned the chase and shouted something about waiting in the lobby if Thatcher needed her.

The clang of blades meeting each other backed by furious power rang out at irregular intervals as the two Mantis Pokémon warred overhead. Scyther landed on a thick branch overhead for a fraction of a second before Sniper came screaming in and lopped it off like it was nothing. Sniper kicked off the tree and rushed Thatcher's Sniper leading with his arms; Scyther blocked expertly and went for Sniper's exposed flank but the lighter green bug detached himself from his adversary and kicked the incoming blade away, then threw his other foot forward and caught Scyther in the thorax. The two bugs landed away from each other to catch their breath but their gazes never broke.

"Unbelievable," James said between labored gasps for air. All the running had tired him out more than he cared to admit and he made a mental note to do some endurance training in the future.

"They're completely equal. Neither is giving an inch!" Thatcher exclaimed from beside his Scyther, obviously enjoying himself. "Scyther, girl, am I ever proud of you!" The glittering forest green warrior threw its head back and gave a proud piercing war cry.

"She's good, Sniper, but we're just as powerful!" James hollered encouragingly. "Do not give her any openings and strike with all you have!"

"Scytha!"

"Sword and sheath style, Sniper! Let's end this!" Sniper dropped his stance and held his left arm parallel to the ground at his side with the blade facing downward. His right was across his chest, hovering over his wound from Beedrill with the blade facing forward and ready to fight. Thatcher's Scyther responded by bending her arms and turning her blades upwards. She egged her adversary on and the battle began anew.

"Sniper, Fury Cutter!"

"Block and use Double Hit!"

The two Bug-types kicked up dirt clouds as they winged their way across the field on a collision course. Scyther's arms adopted a purple shine and she spun like a top, her attack meant for Sniper's head and torso. The other bug ducked under her assault and hopped back a few steps before jumping right back into the fray and striking his opponent with successive hit and run attacks. Growing annoyed, Scyther parried Sniper's incoming hit and winded him with a blow to the chest with the back of her blade-arm.

"Bug Bite!" Thatcher commanded. Scyther wrenched open her reptilian mouth to reveal rows of small dagger-like teeth and chomped on Sniper's left shoulder with as much force as she could muster. Sniper recoiled and let loose a howl of pain but pushed through and threw Scyther off him.

"Wing Attack!" Sniper threw his shoulder and left wings into Scyther's midsection, a blow that lifted her off her feet, and pushed again to send her careening into the air. She masterfully righted herself and came rocketing back down to earth bringing her blade down in a vicious Slash attack. Their blades met with yet another clang. The two trainers roared for simultaneous Slash attacks above the din and waited for an opening while their two Pokémon fought it out. Sniper found himself backed into a tree as a screaming Scyther charged for him and slashed horizontally. Sniper ducked and rolled out of the way and Scyther's blade felled the tree with a mighty thud. Feeling humorous, Thatcher shouted "Timber!" and James couldn't help but laugh.

Sniper adopted his sword-and-sheath style once more, blocking with his left and attacking with his right while Scyther favored an all-out offensive with dual swords. Parry, slash, clang, kick, slash, clang, kick, kick, backhand, duck, CLANG! Two Scyther met midway between their trainers struggling against the other and trying to gain ground. Sniper gained the upper hand and threw Scyther off, transitioning into a backhand with the blunt side of his blade and going in for the kill. James saw victory just within reach but Scyther took it right from under him and Sniper by using her head to take Sniper's second backhand and cut him across the chest with X-Scissor.

James groaned loudly in frustration and rushed to his partner's side as his body went limp and fell, defeated. Bleeding above the eye and from multiple gashes from Fury Cutter, Scyther ignored her injuries and bowed in deep respect for her unconscious adversary.

_You are truly a worthy opponent,_ she said in a calm composed tone. _It would be an honor to do battle with you once more, Sniper._

James recalled his partner after a few murmured words of thanks and replaced his Poké Ball with the Fast Ball on his hip. "That was truly amazing," he said sincerely. "I really hope you were taping that somehow because I want to watch it again."

Thatcher rubbed his head sheepishly. "Well, I think we got some of it on the security footage but I don't know how good it is," he admitted. "We'll see what we can do after this. Bring on your last Pokémon." Nodding James gripped the Fast Ball tight and put on his best poker face. No need to spoil the surprise, he though slyly.

He tossed the Fast Ball into the air with a sharp cry of "Game set!" and beamed when across Thatcher's face flashed the slightest hint of worry.

The flash of light took the form of a Pokémon standing four feet tall covered in feathers, golden brown on its chest, arms and face and red on its legs and thighs. Three wickedly sharp claws stuck out from the tips of its arms and its ruby red eyes shone brightly in the afternoon light as it hopped on the spot and clawed the ground with dangerous-looking talons.

"Combusken, let's finish this quick," said James confidently.

"Busken!" the fighting bird clucked brimming with spirit.

"Aww, man, you just had to go and make this hard for me, didn't you?" sighed Thatcher. "Aww, well," he said with a shrug. "Scyther, use - !"

He never got to finish the order, as Combusken had streaked forward with Quick Attack and buried his foot in Scyther's abdomen before the speedy bug had time to react. Scyther went unconscious before even flying back and rolling into the tree she had felled moments earlier.

"Shit!" the Gym Leader swore eyes wide. "What the hell, man? How long have you had that Combusken?"

"About a week!" James declared proudly. "Not bad, huh?" Thatcher said nothing and replaced his fallen Scyther with his tired Marshtomp, determined not to let this battle end in defeat.

"Last round," he yelled. He looked to Marshtomp and sent it a silent message only they understood. Wary of what was coming next, James leapt into action and called for Combusken to jump in and use Peck. Marshtomp, for all its bulk, was quicker and succeeded in giving a little hop and sending the entirety of his weight slamming into the ground and tearing it up on impact. The Earthquake attack sent a wave of raw power radiating outwards from Marshtomp and shook the ground like a snow globe. The violent vibrations made Combusken trip and he skidded across the ground uncontrollably towards Marshtomp while the Water/Ground-type raised its arm to attack.

"Combusken, trip it back!" James bellowed, frantic. "Dig in!" Combusken dug his feet into the ground to slow himself. Now right under Marshtomp, he clenched his fist and utilized its stored momentum to snap forward like a reflex bag and slug Marshtomp mid-attack. He stopped just behind the punch-drunk mud fish and when he saw Marshtomp was still standing, delivered a debilitating Double Kick to the offending Pokémon's back to knock it out. James let loose with a cry of victory and raced over to hug his newest team member and shower him with praise and thanks.

Thatcher recalled Marshtomp and gave the Poké Ball a fond smile and a quiet thank-you. "You did good, partner. But we might as well accept this loss with dignity and grace." He walked over to James and Combusken and put a hand on each of their shoulders.

"Good game out there. I can honestly say I've never faced a trainer at your level that showed me such a good match. You've got talent, kid, and skill." James and Combusken beamed.

"Well, hey, it was mostly my Pokémon," the boy said sheepishly.

"Don't sell yourself short, either," Thatcher insisted. "You were the one that trained 'em." The boy said nothing, opting to hug his Combusken tighter and revel in their victory. "Let's go get our Pokémon healed up and get you that badge, Jameson. You earned it."

"_We_ earned it," James corrected the Gym Leader. "A general's nothing without his army and an army's nothing without their general. Right, Combusken?"

"Combusk!"

* * *

**Phew, twenty pages… Gotta break this 1-chapter-every few months shitty habit I've got. It's not good; not good at all. Hope you guys enjoy! R&R!**

**Special thanks to everyone that put this story on their favorites list or reviewed! Extra-special thanks to The Finesseful X and Shadow Minamino for staying so consistent. You guys make me want to keep on keeping on with this thing! Also, to those who have this on favorites, drop a review. I'd love to know where the story stands with you guys.**

**Until next time (which'll be soon, I promise! :D)**


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